Over the next two months, Missourians will witness a contest between farm groups afraid of outsiders imposing new rules and opponents of factory farming methods afraid that corporations are taking over agriculture.

The issue is Amendment 1 on the Aug. 5 ballot, touted as the "Right to Farm" amendment, which would bar any legislation, whether proposed by lawmakers or initiative petition, to limit "farming or ranching practices." Spurred by the successful 2010 initiative to regulate dog breeders, state lawmakers approved the amendment last year.

Similar efforts, targeting cattle and hog operations in other states, also prompted the proposal, U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, said yesterday in Columbia.

"We have seen from other states some of the reasons that we are putting this forward," Hartzler said. "Outside entities with a lot of money have come in and have tried to regulate and impose on the farmers and ranchers and people of that state their views of how livestock should be raised and crops should be grown."

Gov. Jay Nixon last week decided that Amendment 1 would be on the August primary ballot, and supporters kicked off the campaign this week with news events featuring several members of Congress. Missouri Farmers Care, the campaign committee formed by commodity and livestock groups and farm-support businesses, brought Hartzler to MFA headquarters.

Opponents of the measure are counting on grass-roots support. They claim the amendment's true purpose is to protect concentrated animal feeding operations such as Smithfield Farms' massive hog breeding operation in northern Missouri, begun under the name Premium Standard Farms, that is now owned by Chinese conglomerate Shuanghui.

"What is happening is that 1 in 4 pork chops produced in this country is now owned by a Chinese company," said former state lawmaker Wes Shoemyer of Clarence. Shoemyer formed Missouri's Food for America to oppose Amendment 1 and is working with the Humane Society of the United States.

"Family farmers already have the right to farm in this state, and we have excluded corporations," Shoemyer said. "In light of seeing how Smithfield is operating, I am really not in favor of giving a Chinese corporation the rights that family farmers already have."

Supporters embrace the amendment because opponents of genetically modified crops and environmentalists concerned about endangered species are not being reasonable, said Blake Hurst, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau.

"In instance after instance agriculture is under attack," he said. "We are having an extended conversation in this country about food and how we produce it, but all too often the opponents of what I like to call modern agriculture are ending that conversation with litigation or legislation or regulation."

The marketplace is where decisions regarding farming practices should be made, Hurst said.

Blocking any future legislation or regulation will only make agribusinesses more powerful and hurt the ability of communities to maintain their quality of life, Shoemyer said.

"I think the integrity of their food is important to people," he said. " 'The right to farm' sounds great, it is a good title, but it is who they are extending it to that concerns me."