Understanding and Transforming the Right to Farm Guide

The right to farm is crucial for the survival of everyone. Across the nation, since the late 1970s, states have been adopting right-to-farm laws in order to limit nuisance suits that are loosely related to agriculture. However, despite their adoption, there has been no comprehensive analysis of the impact of these laws and who actually benefits from them. This book provides the first national analysis and guide to these laws, revealing that they tend to benefit the largest operators such as processing plants, while traditional farmers benefit the least. Those seeking to defend their homes and environment against multinational corporations also suffer, as these corporations use right-to-farm laws to strip neighboring owners of their property rights.

According to the book, right-to-farm laws dispossess the many in favor of the few through what it calls the "midburden," ultimately leading to rural poverty. "Empty Fields, Empty Promises" provides a summary of every state's right-to-farm laws, helping readers to track and navigate their local and regional legal landscape. The book concludes by offering paths forward towards achieving a more distributed and democratic agrifood system that promotes agricultural, rural, and environmental justice.

In states across the nation, right-to-farm laws have been adopted since the late 1970s to limit nuisance suits loosely related to agriculture. However, there has yet to be a comprehensive analysis of what these laws do and who they benefit. This book offers the first national analysis and guide to these laws, and reveals that they generally benefit the largest operators, like processing plants, while traditional farmers benefit the least. Disfavored most of all are those seeking to defend their homes and environment against multinational corporations that use right-to-farm laws to strip neighboring owners of their property rights. Through what the book calls the "midburden," right-to-farm laws dispossess the many in favor of the few, paving the path to rural poverty. "Empty Fields, Empty Promises" summarizes every state's right-to-farm laws to help readers track and navigate their local and regional legal landscape. The book concludes by offering paths forward for a more distributed and democratic agrifood system that achieves agricultural, rural, and environmental justice.

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