Right to Farm

All fifty states have enacted right-to-farm laws that seek to protect qualifying farmers and ranchers from nuisance lawsuits filed by individuals who move into a rural area where normal farming operations exist, and who later use nuisance actions to attempt to stop those ongoing operations. While the overall statutory schemes might be similar, each state has noticeably different content in the specific details of the laws.

The primary aim of this compilation is to provide the researcher with easy and free access to a state’s statutory language.  To better assist researchers we have three separate resources below.  The first is a short article explaining the differences between various provisions commonly found in right-to-farm statutes.  The second link takes you to a map of the United States where each statute’s language can be viewed in its entirety by simply clicking on the state you wish to research.  The third link takes you to a chart where Center staff have categorized the statutes by commonly found provisions such as triggering language.

If you have any questions or if you believe that something may be erroneous then please contact Senior Staff Attorney Rusty Rumley.

To access the explanatory article, click here.

To access the compilation of state right-to-farm laws (including citations), click here.

To access the compilation of state laws, categorized by provision, click here.