[excerpt:]
The state could have the last word in deciding the number and types of plants and animals farmers can raise.

Those types of issues now often are decided at the local level, while the state oversight focuses more on water and air pollution.

But with more than 30 local health and zoning ordinances targeting large livestock farms they blame for odors, dirty water and falling property values, some of the state's largest farming groups are fighting back...

A separate bill last year that would have limited local regulation of genetically modified seeds was approved by a Senate committee but was never voted on by the full House or Senate....

Tom Beamer, the mayor of Arrow Rock, has fought a well publicized battle against a proposed hog farm expansion near the tiny town located on a bluff above the Missouri River...

"Without any county planning and zoning, then there's nothing you can do to stop it," he said. "A farmer could put a nuclear reactor in his field and you couldn't stop him. You might as well not have a county commission because everything is being decided by the state."

The above article refers to Missouri Senate Bill SB364. The text of the full article is available on the Belleville News-Democrat website.

Update, May 2007: Missouri Legislature Kills the CAFO Bill