On Election Day, Oklahoma voters struck down State Question 777, otherwise known as the “Right to Farm” measure. If approved, the measure would have allowed farmers to defend themselves on state and local laws regulating agriculture.
The vote received support from the rural community, however it seemed the urban voters had the louder voice: 60.3 percent of the population turned down Question 777.
Nearly two weeks after the election, Derrell Peel, professor of agribusiness at Oklahoma State University, said as it got closer to the vote, it became “increasingly clear” passing the bill would be a challenge.
He said this is an example of the distance between urban consumers and farmers, causing the phenomenon “science illiteracy,” or the suspicion surrounding science in agriculture.
“The issues we face in agriculture and communicating the reality of food production in the U.S. with consumers is a function of the fact that we’ve been victims of our own success,” said Peel.
By: Ashley Davenport
Source: Agweb.com