Empty Fields, Empty Promises

"The right to farm, by name, is essential to the survival of us all as growers and eaters. Since the late 1970s, states across the nation have adopted so-titled right-to-farm laws to limit nuisance suits loosely related to agriculture. But since their adoption, there has yet to be a comprehensive analysis of what these laws do and who they benefit, not just what their title suggests. In the first national analysis and guide of its kind, this book uncovers that right-to-farm laws benefit the largest of operators, like processing plants, while traditional farmers win the least using such laws. 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 right-to-farm law to help interested 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"--

Loka Ashwood is associate professor of sociology at the University of Kentucky. Aimee Imlay is assistant professor of sociology at Mississippi State University. Lindsay Kuehn is a public defender in Ramsey County, Minnesota, and a staff attorney with the Farmers' Legal Action Group. Allen Franco is an assistant federal public defender for the districts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Danielle Diamond is a visiting fellow at the Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law and Policy Program at Harvard Law School.