A recent court ruling awarding monetary damages to neighbors of a North Carolina industrial hog farm is stirring interest among Georgia agribusiness organizations in renewing a push to update the state’s Right to Farm Act.
But the judgment a federal appeals court handed down last week against giant pork producer Smithfield Foods also served notice to environmental groups that defeated the legislation during this year’s General Assembly session to gear up for another round in 2021.
The bill would make it more difficult for property owners living in areas zoned for agricultural use to file nuisance suits against nearby farms generating offensive noise, dust, smells or sludge runoff.
Under an amendment to the original bill approved on the Senate floor, lawsuits would have to be filed within two years after a nuisance occurs. More restrictive language in the original legislation would have required lawsuits to be brought within two years of an applicant obtaining a permit to start or change a farm operation.
The Republican-controlled Georgia Senate passed the bill in June in a vote along party lines, but it failed to reach the floor of the state House of Representatives.
Supporters say the original Right to Farm Act the legislature enacted during the 1980s contains ambiguities that expose farmers to costly lawsuits that could be avoided by a clearer statute.
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