Nebraska Right to Farm Act Bill Advances in Legislature

LINCOLN -- A bill that would expand protections for farmers under the Nebraska Right to Farm Act advanced through the Legislature April 10.

LB 227, introduced by Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango, was approved 31-7 after a two-day debate among senators.

The Nebraska Right to Farm Act, adopted in 1982, protects farms and warehouses from nuisance complaints by neighbors. These nuisances include dust, noise or odors from these establishments.

Nuisance laws affect not only Nebraska, but other states as well. A federal jury awarded $473.5 million to six neighbors of a North Carolina hog farm belonging to Murphy-Brown last August. The neighbors complained about the farm’s odor and noise, as well as the flies that it attracted.

The NRFA protects farms established before a change in the land surrounding them. The bill would continue this protection as long as there has not been a significant change with the farm and it has been in operation for more than a year.

Hughes introduced an amendment to the bill that would allow neighbors to file a nuisance lawsuit up to two years after the operation faces a conversion of a farm operation, change in ownership, enrollment in a government program, or adoption of new technology.

“It doesn’t give us everything we wanted, but it goes a long ways toward balancing the interests of all landowners,” Hughes said.

Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings said LB 227 is important for allowing farms to grow. A 160-acre farm was enough for farmers in the past, he said, but not anymore.

“The fact of the matter is, we can’t keep the best commodity, if you will, that we have in our state, and that’s our youth, to stay on the farm unless they have the opportunity to grow,” he said. “And that’s all this is.”

Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, who opposed the bill, said the NRFA heavily favors factory farms over rural residents.

“I’m not making a judgment on those businesses,” she said. “What I’m saying is how dare we take the rights away of people to defend their property.”

Hughes said he wasn’t asking for anything new with the bill, but was offering more protections for farmers around the state.

“This bill is about farm operators like me,” he said. “The small guys.”