JEFFERSON CITY, MO. — The Missouri Supreme Court issued a ruling on the constitutionality of a state law prohibiting counties from imposing regulations on industrial hog production facilities. On March 21, Chief Justice Paul C. Wilson ruled that Missouri counties are not permitted to set ordinances for industrial farms.

Wilson affirmed the judgement of the Cole County Circuit Court, which rejected challenges to the validity of the law.

The case centers around concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). County officials looked to establishing ordinances within their region to attend to local complaints about the smells and pollutants coming from nearby CAFOs.

One of the appellants, Cedar County Commission, adopted a public health ordinance in May 2016 to regulate CAFOs in the region.

In May 2019, the Missouri General Assembly passed a bill that prevented counties from enacting public health ordinances that “impose standards or requirements on an agricultural operation and its appurtenances … that are inconsistent with or more stringent than” the state’s regulation.

A few months later, just two weeks before the General Assembly’s new rule would come into effect, Cooper County Public Health Center, another appellant, enacted a public health regulation imposing air and water quality standards on CAFOs within the county. Six days following the ordinance, the appellants filed a case with the circuit court to prevent the enforcement of the amendment.

The General Assembly further modified the law’s wording in May 2021 while the case was pending to read, “inconsistent with, in addition to, different from, or more stringent than” (emphasis added).

The appellants argued that the law conflicted with the Missouri Constitution’s Right-to-Farm Amendment and other constitutional provisions. They added that the law “contains no language evidencing a clear legislative intent to apply retroactively.”

Wilson rejected all claims in his ruling.