Norborne, Mo.

Editor's note:

Emotional attachment is one of the reasons eminent domain is necessary. Rural landowners probably have more sense of place than urban landowners, and farmers in particular are more emotionally tied to their land. Unfortunately, there is no good price discovery for emotions. Would you take $50 million to move off the home place? Some would, some wouldn't. The agency invoking eminent domain, then, is left with few options but to make payments based on current market prices. What's worse is that property is more at risk given recent events. As you have heard by now, the Supreme Court delivered its decision on Kelo vs. City of New London. Bad news for land rightsÑit was a 5-4 ruling in favor of the state. The ruling means that the homes standing in the way of private development can be condemned under the guise of economic development. The ruling opens the way for true eminent domain chicanery.-SF

Blessing and curse

Ask any gardener-when the fruit and vegetables begin to ripen, wildlife will come to celebrate the occasion. Most gardeners do not mind sharing a little of their bounty with wildlife, but sometimes they share more than they would like.

I always planted more tomatoes than I hoped to harvest due to the loss of fruit to wildlife.

What gardeners face in loss to wild-life is miniscule in comparison to what farmers and ranchers lose to wildlife in crops and livestock. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, wildlife causes nearly $950 million in damage to crops and livestock annually.

With the deer population growing rapidly, grain farmers are losing larger percentages of their crops-two-thirds of the wildlife damage occurs to farmers' grain crops. Livestock and poultry farmers lose more than $175 million mostly to coyotes. And fruit, vegetable and nut producers lose almost $150 million to wildlife.

Farmers and ranchers know they are going to lose crops and livestock to insects and disease, to drought and floods, and to hail, wind and lightning. It goes with the territory. Add to that $950 million in damage to crops and livestock from wildlife-should that go with the territory too?

As you may know the Missouri Department of Agriculture is urging Missouri livestock owners to register in the Missouri Animal Identification Program (MAIP). The process is quick, easy to do, and available by using a mail-in form (in this issue on page 31) or by going on-line to www.mda.mo.gov.

The information requested is basic and limited and also confidential. The registrant will soon thereafter receive by mail a card containing the number for their premises.

This premises identification number will be a vital piece in a future animal disease trace back system. In that system, animals and locations will be identified in a database that will allow animal health officials, if need be, to rapidly determine where an animal has been throughout its production and marketing life as well as what other animals it had come in contact with.

This information will be vital in stopping an epidemic in the earliest stages possible, thereby protecting our abundant food supply-food supply that is increasingly important here at home as well as around the world.

As a state that is among the leaders in many areas of agriculture production, I would hope that again Missouri could lead the way in this important new program. It's a program whose time has come.