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House members debate changes to farm-nuisance protections; committee shifts burden-of-proof and preserves plaintiff remedies
Summary
The House Judiciary Committee reviewed House Agriculture’s proposed changes to farm-nuisance protections, including elimination of the rebuttable-presumption framework, retention of a definition of generally accepted agricultural practices, a certificate-of-good-standing requirement for protections, and preserved remedies for plaintiffs who prove negligence or substantial harm.
The committee received a substantive briefing on proposed changes to nuisance protections for agricultural operations that were considered by the House Agriculture Committee and discussed how those changes intersect with judiciary considerations.
David Durfee, Chair of the House Agriculture Committee, told Judiciary members the Agriculture Committee had taken extensive testimony from farm groups (the Farm Bureau, NOFA, Rural Vermont and the Dairy Farmers Alliance) and had conducted in-depth review. Durfee said the Ag Committee’s vote on its proposal was "7-1-0" and that its versions remove the rebuttable-presumption structure in current law and shift the burden of proof to plaintiffs who bring nuisance claims.
Under the version Durfee described, agricultural activities are not a nuisance if conducted in accordance with "generally accepted agricultural practices" (a definition…
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