Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 31,3(December 1999):565–579 0 1999 Southern Agricultural Economics Association Political Economy of Right-to-Farm

This paper investigatesthe motivations for local right-to-farmprotection ordinances by es-timatinga logit model relatingthe adoptionof theseordinancesto variouspolitical, economic and demographic factors previously found to affect the likelihood of passage of farmland preservationpolicies. Results suggest thatthe probability of adopting right-to-farmpolicies increaseswith the size and political clout of the farm public and with incentivesto promote right-to-farm.Adoption is not enhanced by environmentalconcerns, nor by factors known to encourage adoption of farmland preservationpolicies. These findings raise serious con-cerns about the long-nm viability of protections afforded agriculturein urbanizingareas. Key Words: nuisance litigation, open space, political economy, restrictive ordinances, right-to-farm. All fifty states in the US have advanced Right-to-Farm (RTF) laws in recent years (Hamilton and Andrews, 1993). These laws, many of which were passed after 1980, surfaced in re-sponse to concerns about the diminishing farmland base and the threats to agriculture by inappropriate private and public nuisance ac-tions which adversely affect the viability of farms. RTF laws attempt to diminish the threat to normal farming practices posed by nuisance litigation and prohibitive state and local gov-ernment regulation. Many perceive RTF laws as an important component of any farmland retention policy. As opposed to typical farm-land preservation policies which aim to pre-Adesoji Adelajais professorandchairandKeithFried-man is former graduatestudent,Departmentof Agri