Farmer describes years-long nuisance suit as Agency of Agriculture backs S.45 changes to right-to-farm law

At a Judiciary Committee hearing, Hampton farmer Gerard Borstevout described more than five years of litigation with a neighboring property owner and urged lawmakers to strengthen the state’s right-to-farm protections through S.45.

Borstevout said the suit grew from complaints he said centered on tile drainage, water on the neighbor’s property, and occasional manure odor. “If farmers are doing things correctly, they should have some protection from nuisance and trespass lawsuits,” Borstevout said. He told the committee his family has spent “hundreds of thousands of dollars” defending the farm and faces a court-ordered review and potential fines if he cannot show water is no longer discharging from tile outlets.

The testimony came as Steve Collier, representing the Agency of Agriculture, told the committee the existing statute is “really poorly done” and that S.45 would be a modest but important correction. “The way that this defense was set up is that the defense has to be proven by the farmer,” Collier said, describing how the current…