For more information on the harm of right to farm

laws and constitutional amendments, please visit:

• ASPCA: Oppose Right to Farm Legislation

https://www.aspca.org/animal-
protection/public-policy/oppose-right-farm-
legislation
• HSUS: The Right to Farm or Right to
Harm?
https://blog.humanesociety.org/2014/03/righ
t-to-farm-or-right-to-harm.html

Photo by USDA. Public domain. The

Constitutional
Right to Farm
Amending your state
constitution is good for What It Means and
big ag, but bad for you. How It May Impact
You
All states have laws that allow businesses
and individuals the “right to farm.”
Constitutional amendments enshrining
these rights only make it easier for large
agricultural companies to circumvent
zoning and nuisance laws, at the cost of
your health and safety.

For a free digital PDF of this brochure, go to:

https://righttofarm.wordpress.com/

What is the “right to
farm?”
• All 50 states have statutes that
promise individuals and companies
the right to farm.
• Statutory right to farm laws give
existing farms immunity from nuisance
lawsuits and zoning ordinances.
• Constitutional amendments enshrining
the right to farm become a permanent
part of your state’s laws, making it
nearly impossible to hold agricultural
companies liable for harming small
farmers, animals, the environment,
and your health.
Credit: Mercy For Animals, Resized, License
at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by/2.0/legalcode
Credit: Edna Winti, Resized,
License at:
https://creativecommons.org
/licenses/
by/2.0/legalcode
What does this mean for
you?
Statutory right to farm laws already exempt
individuals and agricultural companies from
being held civilly liable for nuisances caused
by their practices, including noises, odors, and
water pollution.
Statutes are easily amended or repealed. With
enough public support from caring people like
you, a state’s right to farm statute could be
amended to allow people harmed by
agricultural practices in their community to be
compensated, or the statute could be
completely dismantled.
A state constitutional amendment, however, is
far more difficult to amend or repeal. Further,
amendments often include vague language
that essentially opens the door for agricultural
companies to do whatever they please,
regardless of how it impacts small local farms,
the environment, animals, or your family.
What does this mean for
farmed animals?
While certainly you, your family, your
local farmers and the environment stand
to lose under a constitutional right to farm
amendment, farmed animals are perhaps
the most impacted.
Farmed animals have very little
protections under the law as it stands.
The language in right to farm
amendments tends toward giving
agricultural companies broad, sweeping
immunity from the few state-level animal
protection laws in existence, such as
bans on gestation crates and battery
cages.
What you can do:
• Vote against any ballot measure that
attempts to amend your state
constitution with the right to farm!
• Lobby your state-level representatives
for changes to existing right to farm
statutes to allow individuals to be
compensated for injuries sustained due
to agricultural practices.
• Give this pamphlet to someone who
needs to know more about the right to
farm and how it may impact them.