Imagine you live on your family’s farm, which has been in your family for generations.  The nearby city keeps on growing and soon you find new neighbors next to your fields.  One evening, after a long day driving the tractor and running a manure spreader, your phone rings.  Your new neighbor is not happy about the smell of manure drifting from your fields onto her property.  Soon thereafter, you find yourself a defendant in a lawsuit claiming that your farm is a nuisance and seeking the court prevent… Read More →

The New Mexico Legislature recently passed an amendment to the state’s Right to Farm Act, which was signed into law by Governor Martinez on March 3, 2016.  Senate Bill 72 adds a new paragraph to the Right to Farm Act, which has been in place in New Mexico since 1981. Right to Farm Acts Generally Assume a dairy has been in operation for 10 years, and the city has continually moved further and further out towards the dairy.  Now, where there used to be open fields, the dairy finds… Read More →

I recently wrote an article for Dairy Herd Management magazine reminding producers of the important protections offered by state Right to Farm statutes.  While hopefully an operation never needs to use this statute to defend itself from a nuisance or trespass claim, being aware that these protections do exist and understanding the requirement for the state in which an operation is located is critical. To read the full article, click here.    

I must admit, writing an agricultural law blog post about marijuana was not something I expected to ever do when I started this blog.  Currently, however, there are controversies going on in Oregon and Missouri about whether the right to farm includes the right to grow marijuana.  These controversies raise interesting issues likely not ever considered by those agricultural groups and producers who most often support right to farm laws. Oregon Medicinal marijuana use has been legal in Oregon for years, and recreational possession becomes legal on July… Read More →