The N.C. Senate voted Monday evening to pass the N.C. Farm Act of 2018 which contains numerous provisions aimed at supporting the state’s largest industry and ensuring that farmers have the intended legal protections in the state’s right to farm law.
“North Carolina’s family farmers are under attack by greedy out-of-state trial lawyers, and recent court rulings have stripped away the legal protections the right to farm law sought to guarantee,” said primary bill sponsor Sen. Brent Jackson (R-Sampson.) “The Farm Act of 2018 takes steps to ensure the protections that the right to farm law intended for our farmers still exist and that the industry can continue to feed the world.”
Senate Bill 711, also sponsored by Senators Bill Cook (R-Beaufort) and Norman Sanderson (R-Pamlico), clarifies provisions of the current right to farm law in order to protect farmers against unfounded nuisance lawsuits, often brought by out-of-state lawyers, attempting to put them out of business.
“I would like to thank Sen. Jackson, along with Senators Cook and Sanderson, for sponsoring this bill and for their tireless efforts to protect North Carolina’s family farms,” said Senate Leader Phil Berger (R- Rockingham). “Recent federal court rulings threaten a vital part of Eastern North Carolina’s agricultural economy and this bill takes steps to ensure that family farmers’ right to make a living on their land is protected.”
The bill will now move onto the House.
