Right-to-farm laws: Legal shields of Big Ag [Book review]

Abstract

In the 1970s and 1980s, U.S. agriculture faced its worst crisis since the Great Depression. Dire finances due to collapsed land and commodity prices forced almost a third of farms nationwide to close, negatively affecting rural economies beyond farming (Barnett, 2000). During this period, right-to-farm (RTF) state laws were enacted to protect farmers from nuisance lawsuits resulting from agri­cultural practices, such as complaints about noise or odor. These laws were promoted to safeguard family farms and slow down the urbanization of rural areas, a trend contributing to the emergence of post-agrarian rural societies in the U.S. (Salamon, 2007).