Missouri locavores are collecting signatures to petition Gov. Jay Nixon for a share of the stimulus funds. They want the state to spend money on local food, and to coerce other people into doing so as well.

The letter states that there is increasing demand for locally grown food, then reports:

This growing demand, however, has been difficult to meet.

No kidding! Is that because nothing grows in our climate when there’s snow on the ground?

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy fresh produce that was picked just minutes before. The thing is, it’s costly to provide that, and consumers are turned off by the price. So the locavores want the state to step in.

Almost anything can be produced locally, for enough money and effort. We shoudn’t do that, though. Imagine if all our oil had to come from inside the state. We could maybe find some … if we drill deep enough.

The locavores assure us that state spending would improve the “long-term profitability” of local food production. It certainly would, to the detriment of taxpayers. And take a look at this sentence:

You will be facilitating a new economic engine for Missouri based on local values, local ingenuity and local relationships.

“Ingenuity” must refer to their lobbyists. It doesn’t describe the farmers who prefer to rely on state handouts rather than on their own initiative.