Texas Agriculture Code Chapter 251, the Right to Farm Act, protects established agricultural operations from nuisance suits when neighbors arrive after farming began. Dallas County operations qualify under state law.
Texas Agriculture Code Chapter 251 bars nuisance lawsuits against agricultural operations that have been in operation for one year or more, provided they have not substantially changed practices. Protected activity includes crop production, livestock, dairy, poultry, equine, beekeeping, and routine farm noise, dust, odor, and chemical application. The 2023 amendments via HB 1750 strengthened protections by requiring plaintiffs to live within one half mile of the operation and capping damages. Dallas County has limited remaining farmland concentrated in southern and western unincorporated pockets and the Trinity River bottoms, but qualifying operations there receive the state shield. Dallas County does not layer a separate county right-to-farm ordinance on top. Disputes route through Dallas County district court.
A nuisance suit against a covered farm can be dismissed under Chapter 251. The 2023 amendments allow recovery of attorney fees by the prevailing farm and cap punitive damages, deterring frivolous suits.
See how Irving's farm nuisance protection rules stack up against other locations.
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