Every year good things come from the Missouri Governor's Conference on Agriculture. This year was no exception. In fact, this year may have set a new standard with the release of the findings and recommendations put forth by One Missouri, One Agriculture. One Missouri, One Agriculture is a 38-member task force assembled by Missouri Governor Bob Holden. At the recent Governor's Conference, the task force unveiled its recommendations, which are designed to strengthen agriculture.

The entire process has the fingerprints of Missouri's director of agriculture all over it. Lowell Mohler is justifiably renown for his consensus-gathering no-nonsense approach. That approach is especially effective considering agriculture and its many differing (and opposing) participants, supporters and critics.

The task force's recommendations include four general actions. They are:

• create a more favorable business climate for Missouri agriculture;
• develop new market opportunities for Missouri agricultural products;
• expand access to capital for business creation and expansion; and
• create an organizational structure and communications network that better serve the needs of people in agriculture.

The task force also proposed creating an oversight group to coordinate the state departments of agriculture, conservation, economic development, health and natural resources. For agriculture, this recommendation for interdepartmental cooperation is a welcome addition.

Better still, the report requests those agencies participate in promoting a positive image of agriculture. Imagine everyone's jaw-dropping astonishment if the state conservation magazine actually said good things about agriculture without dribbling snide, disparaging remarks.

Task force members also proposed that state government review existing regulations and scour new or proposed regulations to make sure all are based on "sound, peer-reviewed science and reviewed by industry recognized experts." That proposal comes in response to what committee members said was the most often-raised concern: continued regulatory onslaught and the compliance burden. But the committee's recommendations don't stop there. They also call for cost-benefit analysis regarding environmental and conservation policies and a mandate for objective rules.

The task force further proposed to "discourage counties from adopting ordinances affecting agricultural operations that are more restrictive than state or federal rules or regulations. It calls for the use of sound, peer-reviewed science for proposed and existing ordinances restricting agriculture at the county and local level."

That's astute advice. Let's hope the recommendation is cemented into policy. Right now, especially in view of the Environmental Protection Agency's unwanted (and unwarranted) intrusion into agriculture, sound policy is needed to help keep livestock production viable.

Under EPA's clumsy, bureaucratic fumbling, dairy production, hog production, poultry production and even beef production could head south. Literally. The last thing livestock agriculture needs is for counties to add to the regulatory burden. The heads of both the Soybean Association and Corn Growers summed it up well during a panel discussion: Crop farmers have as much of a vested interest in livestock production as livestock producers do. As Dale Ludwig of the Soybean Association adroitly joked, a chicken is a soybean with wings.

Now let's see if the task force recommendations will fly.