Georgia governor signs bill protecting farms from suits filed by neighbors, environmental groups

Critics of the invoice embrace no less than one farmer who stated she had no points with the earlier legal guidelines.

“We need to be good stewards of the land. And for essentially the most half, particularly in Gordon County, that’s been occurring,” Charlotte Swancy, a Gordon County farmer stated throughout a listening to for the invoice in February. “However in our county, there was a proposal of bringing in a 150 hen home operation. And below the present invoice, we nonetheless have safety to litigate in opposition to one thing like that.”

Home Agriculture and Client Affairs Committee Chairman Robert Dickey III, one of many invoice’s seven all-Republican sponsors, claimed throughout the listening to in February that the invoice was “simply attempting to provide farmers some safety to farm their land like they’ve all the time carried out it, when you may have some neighbors who may transfer in and have slightly completely different opinion.”

In a written assertion to AJC, April Lipscomb, an legal professional for the Southern Environmental Legislation Heart, defined why she thought the amended invoice would harm residents dwelling close to the farms.

“Underneath present legislation, residents who had been there first can defend their property rights any time an agricultural nuisance happens, even when the nuisance happens 20 years after the agricultural facility started working,” she wrote. “Underneath HB 1150, current residents can solely defend their property rights from nuisances created throughout the first two years of the ability’s operation. That’s not a compromise; it’s an assault on property rights.”

Agriculture is Georgia’s main trade, bringing in additional than $74 billion to the state yearly and main the nation with its manufacturing of peanuts, eggs, and broilers (chickens), in addition to cotton, pecans, blueberries, and extra.

The invoice was endorsed by the Georgia Farm Bureau, the Georgia Agribusiness Council, the Georgia Poultry Federation, and the Georgia Forestry Affiliation, The Moultrie Observer reviews.

Kemp used Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to justify why signing this invoice was so vital.

“As the worldwide market continues to react to Russia’s unprovoked and unjust battle in Ukraine—Europe’s breadbasket—the significance of the ag sector right here in America, and particularly right here in Georgia, will solely proceed to develop. Our farming households are extra vital than ever, and that’s considered one of many the reason why it is so essential we defend their lifestyle.”