To please silly people, The first Texas Right-To-Farm Act (RTF) was passed in 1981.
Legislators proposed the act “to reduce the state’s loss of agricultural resources.” Silly people believed it was needed.
Since then, the number of operators in the state has grown by 27 percent, while the number of acres in farmland has dropped by 8 percent (largely due to the growing number of wind and solar fields, lakes, and the expanding population centers).
Basically, it was sold as a way to protect certain agricultural operations from nuisance suits when they impact a neighboring property, such as through noise or pollution. (Texas defines nuisance as actions that cause (1) physical harm to a property; (2) physical harm to persons on their property by assaulting their senses or other personal injury; or (3) emotional harm to persons from the deprivation of the enjoyment of their property through fear, apprehension, or loss of peace of mind.)
“Loss of mind” is not mentioned.
The 1981 Act…
…supposedly was centered on protecting certain types of operations from such lawsuits if they are engaged in soil cultivation, crop production, floriculture, fviticulture, horticulture, silviculture, wildlife management, raising or keeping livestock or poultry, or other agricultural land set aside in compliance with governmental conservation program. (That was the kicker.)
It was, voters were told, a way of providing agricultural operations broad immunity and limit a neighbors’ ability to sue by protecting an operation from nuisance suits (if it has lawfully existed for one year). It also was to “protect” agricultural improvements that are not prohibited by law at time of construction or restricts the flow of water, light, or air onto other land.
The law required that agricultural operations adhere to federal, state, and local laws in order to receive protection from nuisance suits. (More kickers!)
Additionally, the law required facilities to comply with local governmental regulations that protect the health and safety of residents. (Keep adding those kickers!!)
In practice, it’s obvious that (1) the 1981 Act demonstrates that “the right to farm” took away the owner’s basic right to control and manage their farm or ranch land, and (2) that government takes care of government.*
Isn’t it amazing that legislation often achieves exactly what it is designed to avoid?
42-Years later, on November 7, 2023 …
...Texas voters approved HJR 126, changing the landowner’s right to farm and / or ranch to a “privilege” – whereby, the state’s governmental units allow a landowner to “engage” in farming or ranching. By voter approval, the amendment allows the state to create future administrative agencies to control and manage farm, ranch and other agricultural endeavors – operating on some currently-unknown “generally accepted” practices – to “assure public health and public safety” unknown issues based on yet unknown rules and regulations. (Nothing in it, but kickers!!!)
The Paris Texas Chamber of Commerce warned property owners not to approve this horrendous legislation, as it opened the doors to more government control and management of private property.
We were ignored.
But if your neighbor can control and manage your property, what good is your ownership of it? You get to pay the taxes and the costs of maintenance, but they reap the the benefits of ownership – if any remains after the next 42-years . . .
We won’t be around then; however, if you are one of those who voted to approve the change, and are, remember you were warned ––
We’re supposed to be a nation of limited government based on self-responsibility with accountability for wrong-doing. But today, Texas, and the nation, are in a mess because too many silly people want the government to take care of them. They see themselves as a victim or being incapable of taking care of themselves.
Silly people take a great deal of pride in being stupid; believing everything that government tells them, while ignoring the fact they cannot name three problems that government has solved over the last three-quarters of a century, while creating the mess we’re in . . .
Please, stop being one of the silly people voting for silly people.
* 20-years later, the Texas Legislature created the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (in 2001); while supposedly eliminating the Natural Resources Department. In 2019, the Athens, Texas Daily Review newspaper, followed the TCEQ’s charge and investigation into Sanderson Farms as being in violation of nuisance statutes due to odors, noise, emissions, and runoff. In October 2020, the paper reported that a court ordered Sanderson Farms to pay plaintiffs $6 million in damages from nuisances related to its sixteen poultry barns. This despite the 1981 Right To Farm Act, which was sold to “protect from lawsuits in regard to such nuisances.” (In reality, the 1981 Act, like HJR 126, encourages government’s growth, which adds additional burdens to farming and ranching.)
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