Bill would exempt Detroit from Right to Farm Act, allow stricter regulation of urban agriculture

An abandoned Detroit lot produces food instead of tax revenue. Photo by Andy McGlashen.

To support urban agriculture, the city needs a full-scale exemption from the Right to Farm Act

By Yang Zhang
Great Lakes Echo
Oct 28, 2010

Excerpt:

LANSING – Legislators from Detroit and Greenville have teamed up in an effort to ease restrictions on Detroit under the state farming laws.

A bill by Reps. Gabe Leland, D-Detroit, and Mike Huckleberry, D-Greenville, would exclude Detroit from the Michigan Right to Farm Act, which limits the legal right of neighbors to sue farmers about noise and smell complaints.

“By exempting Detroit, the city would be free to apply practical rules to urban agriculture,” said Joe Taylor, Leland’s chief of staff.

The Michigan Right to Farm Act protects farmers from complaints and nuisance lawsuits and prohibits local farming regulations that are more stringent than state ones, according to the Department of Agriculture.

The legislation would allow the city to set different standards.

For example, Taylor said, under the Right to Farm Act a farmer may be allowed to apply pesticides at a wind speed of 10 miles per hour, but if a farm is next to an apartment building, the city should be able to set a lower limit, such as 2 or 5 miles per hour.

“We want to make sure that the city is free to implement the rules that make the best sense for it,” he said.

Under the law, farm operations aren’t considered nuisances if they conform to generally accepted agricultural and management practices developed by the Commission of Agriculture.

Jennifer Holton, a public information officer at the department, said the department opposes exempting any city from the law because it relies on science-based, acceptable practices that allow commercial agriculture to operate safely and responsibly.

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