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Florida lawmakers are trying to make it harder to sue farmers. They say it s to prevent conflicts between existing farms and city dwellers who moved in next door. But environmentalists fear it s actually to protect the practice of sugarcane burning in South Florida, which has resulted in a federal lawsuit.
Lawmakers put Florida s Right to Farm Act into statute decades ago to protect farmers from conflicts created by new neighbors. Whether that conflict result from the smell of cow manure or the clucking of chickens, neighbors can t say the farm is a nuisance if it s been operating for a year or more and wasn t considered a nuisance when it started. There are exceptions, but those are limited.