Agriculture interests this year have successfully lobbied for a host of new state laws to protect farms from litigation over foul smells, loud noises and declining water quality.
The push comes after years of nuisance lawsuits the agriculture industry blames for decimating some livestock producers. All 50 states already had a “right to farm” on their books, but the new laws will make it even more difficult to bring such lawsuits against farmers.
Some of the laws prohibit all but the nearest neighbors from filing a claim. Others limit the awards that plaintiffs can win, or hold them financially liable for a defendant’s legal fees if their lawsuit is dismissed.
Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia and Washington enacted laws this year. Lawmakers in Louisiana, Oregon and Vermont introduced legislation that is still under consideration. In Georgia, a House bill died in a Senate committee, but the Georgia Farm Bureau intends to keep lobbying for it ahead of next year’s session.
Much of the action has been spurred by legal activity in North Carolina, home to 9 million hogs and 2,400 swine operations — and the pig waste that goes with them. The state’s pork industry has long been criticized for harming the environment, but last year a jury awarded $473.5 million to neighbors of industrial-scale hog farms over “obnoxious, recurrent odors” and other nuisances.
In a column titled “Our Right to Farm,” the American Farm Bureau Federation rallied the troops.
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Food doesn't come for grocery stores, it comes from farmers. Regulate the farmers out of business and we will have famine. Farming is the most important industry in the world
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