By Susan Redden

sredden@joplinglobe.com

Republican gubernatorial candidate Kenny Hulshof was “preaching to the choir” on Wednesday night when he emphasized the importance of Missouri agriculture during a gathering at the Joplin Regional Stockyards.

Reminding the crowd that he still works his family farm in the state’s Bootheel, Hulshof, now a U.S. House member from Missouri’s 9th District, said he would advocate for farmers and agriculture if he wins the governor’s race.

The Joplin-area stop was one of several he had made Wednesday along with Charlie Kruse, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau.

“He’s a real farmer, and he understands the challenges of agriculture,” Kruse said to about 80 people gathered in sale area at the stockyards.

Hulshof told the crowd that he is “an unapologetic conservative who is pro-life, pro-Second Amendment and a believer in private-property rights.”

He criticized a recent court decision that said concentrated animal feeding operations could not be allowed within 15 miles of a state park.

“That will decimate the animal industry in our state,” he said. “It’s been challenged, and I hope common sense will prevail.”

The remark was one of several that brought applause from the crowd.

Questioned after the event, Hulshof said there should be regulations for CAFOs beyond what currently exist, but he said he would prefer oversight on a local level. He said he favored a proposal advanced by the Farm Bureau and the Missouri Association of Counties that was proposed, but not approved by lawmakers, in 2007.

“What they talked about then was county commissions being able to take an up or down vote on whether a CAFO could get an operating permit, and rule on things like setbacks,” he said. “I think giving local folks a say would be the better approach.”

Hulshof said he particularly sympathizes with farmers whose operations become the source of complaints “if it’s from people who have moved in and chose to live next to the farm.”

Hulshof also said Missouri needs “a state government that is honest and accountable,” and that he would favor an office of inspector general for the state to investigate and prosecute fraud.

He noted that he was removed from the House Ethics Committee after he wrote a report finding that Tom DeLay, the former House GOP leader, had violated ethics rules. Hulshof is a former prosecutor who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1996.