Michigan Right to Farm Law, what does it mean?

[Sonoran Silkies]

Contact someone from the State Legislature--as a public servant, they are supposed to help their constituents out. Seems to me that a city/town ignoring state law would be of mighty big interest to the state.

Also contact the State Attorney General's office--you'll probably get shuttled to an underling, but that's okay--you'll get more attention than from the AG. Make sure you do all the background work for them--cite the exact law references and court cases.

Find a newspaper writer (if any newspapers still exist) who likes investigative reporting and fighting for the underdog.

 

[eldenbrady]

I don't have a whole lot to add to the discussion of what the law says (Bluemoon420 pretty well summed it up), just this. The Michigan Court of Appeals has made it very clear that there is no minimum size needed to be commercial. “[T]here is no minimum level of sales that must be reached before the RTFA [right to farm act] is applicable.” Charter Tp. of Shelby v. Papesh, 267 Mich.App. 92, 101, 704 N.W.2d 92, 99 (2005)(the case was actually about chickens too). However, if your hens lay 4 dozen eggs a day and you sell (or try to sell) one dozen a week while using the rest you might not win in court because the selling looks like just a cover. If you sell half of your eggs you are probably good.

I am allergic to eggs so my farming does not involve chickens, which is too bad because they are one of the easiest and most affordable animals to start with.

Just because you are right on the law does not mean it will be easy. My Michigan right to farm story. I am not a lawyer yet (I am taking the bar exam for the first time later this month) but I did well in law school and I have extensively researched this issue so I figured it would be pretty easy to deal with the city. We are growing vegetables to sell and had an issue with the city's plant/mowing ordinance. During the hearing before the city appeal board I not only cited right to farm, but read the relevant portions of the law and the GAAMPs. The city attorney was quite possibly the rudest person I have ever encountered, laughing every time I discussed the law in my argument. He stood up and basically said that the law didn't say any of what I had read (he also misstated my argument even after I corrected him), he did not cite the law to support his argument, he did not give any backing for his bold statement that right to farm does not apply in the city and he made very demeaning comments about my arguments and about our farming operation. The board voted with him unanimously and without discussion.

The moral of the story. The Michigan Court of Appeals has almost always sided with the farmer in right to farm cases, but unless you are prepared to go that far do not count on getting the city, township, or village to let you do what you have a legal right to do. Also, expect that you may have to deal with belittling and demeaning behavior on the part of the municipality.

That being said, good luck and I hope no one else has to deal with this kind of ridiculousness. Unfortunately our Circuit Court judge does not like unrepresented people in his court so we will have to wait until I am a lawyer to pursue our matter further (If anyone needs a letter from an attorney to a municipality I am sure I will be able to beat the prices that dw_bubba was given once I am actually an attorney).

If you cannot afford an attorney, see if you can find someone in your local Extension office or Michigan Farm Bureau who knows the law and can write a letter, it may help against an ignorant official so long as they are not trying to lie about the law like ours are.

 

[tammayrend]

WOW guys, this is EXACTLY what I am going through right now in Ypsilanti Township. I have another thread here, but my update is basically this:

After receiving my notice from the Homeowners Association, we politly responded that per their rules we were "keeping caged birds" and had a right to keep them.

The Association must not have liked that and contacted the ordinance officer who taped a note on our door the otehr day giving us 6 days to remove the birds or see fines of $100+.

I mentioned giving up to a friend and they pointed me to the RTFA.

I haven't decided if I can afford the fight or not - My husband JUST got a job and we are scratching and clawing our way out of this HUGE hole...

Any-who, anyone else in Ypsi Twp fighting the fight???

 

[eldenbrady]

Hopefully you can argue successfully that the homeowners association rules allow them, or try to change the association’s rules. Having neighbors on your side is always the best way to go when possible. Even if you successfully argue that your chickens are allowed under the rules your opponents in the homeowner association may just try to change them if your neighbors do not agree with you.

As far as right to farm. I have not seen any Michigan right to farm cases dealing with homeowners associations. It is clear from the cases that MRTF overrules local zoning and nuisance complaints from neighbors (keep in mind the having to be commercial thing - if your chickens are not ‘commercial’ then MRTF doesn’t hep you at all). However, a judge may see homeowner association rules as a contract that you agreed to by buying your house since it is not set by a local government but by a contractually created homeowners association (let me know if you would like more explanation of this). If the judge sees it this way you could have a long uphill fight in completely uncharted territory.

While homeowners association rules may look and feel the same as zoning and ordinances, they are unfortunately two completely different things as far as the law is concerned. The good thing is that homeowners association rules can be a lot easier to change if you can do some good neighborhood friend making.

Good luck however you decide to approach it.

 

[Yooper Granny]

Just found out about this forum. I am on the village council in a small village in the UP of Michigan. I had a resident come to me and ask about chickens. We took the matter to the rest of the village council. Not only did the vote against it, they held a public hearing and changed the ordinance to read no farm animals, including, but not limited to horses, cows, chickens, you get the idea.

Can the Michigan Right to Farm Act be used to get the ordinance overturned? The folks up here went absolutely nuts when it was suggested a chicken be allowed in town.

 

[agnes_day]

can someone tell me then in plain english...can i use the oklahoma right to farm act to keep my chickens and pet pygmy goats in my yard, as long as i am "selling" stuff from them?? please tell me its that simple.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
State laws differ. Just because that would apply in Michigan does not mean it would in any other state. You need to first of all find out if Oklahoma has a Right to Farm Law, and if so, exactly what the provisions are.

From the various ones posted on this site, it seems that the general concept of these laws is to prevent people who "move into the neighborhood" from then complaining about existing farming operations, filing nuisance suits and putting these farming operations, many of which may have a history of a 100 years or more out of business. Some have minimum sizes of property, herds/flocks or net $$ to meet the criteria for protection. Some do not cover NEW farming, but only EXISTING farming. As I said above, you need to read the law for your own state.

 

[eldenbrady]

In Michigan, right to farm trumps local ordinances - period. MCL 286.474(6) http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(tl...e=mcl-286-474&highlight=right AND to AND farm (read section 6). The local ordinance is illegal and void as it applies to commercial farmers operating within the scope of right to farm. I believe that this is uncommon in other states, as Michigan has one of the most comprehensive right to farm laws.

I did a quick check on Oklahoma (I know nothing about Oklahoma law) and found this, http://www.okfarmbureau.org/news/newsreleases2009/nr05-27-09.asp , it says that the Oklahoma right to farm does not preempt local ordinances. So it looks like right to farm will not help you if the local ordinance says no animals. I hope I am wrong and I encourage you to keep checking, if you don’t know where else to look try contacting someone with Farm Bureau.

 

[longhorninmi]

Hey Yooper Granny and eldenbrady: My neighbors and I have been dealing with this Yooper city government's wishy-washy chicken opinions all summer. The latest word from the Dept of Ag. is that they are not going to even respond to the piddly-old city requests for GAAMPS review in order to comply with RTFA, so we would be wasting our time going that route. What I want to know is this: when my backyard flock of 6 is presented with a cease-and-desist-type order from the city threatening a fine, what will actually happen? Will they send the dog-catcher to apprehend the fowl, will they tack a lien on your title, or will the fine appear on your next water bill???? If they drag our pathetic souls into local court and start legal proceedings, we still get to keep the birds in the meantime, right?

Have you passed the bar and are you eager to get these cases?

Way to go Ypsilanti!!!

 

[Yooper Granny]

Well, if am reading my ordinances right. Here in Ontonagon, if your are zoned R-1 (residential) it allows for agricultural uses. Since RFTA doesn't say anything about size of the farm or what you do with it, I think the next village councl meeting might get interesting. At the last council meeting, they passed a very restrictive ordinance which pretty much just allows cats and dogs. I am going to tell them they have to rethink that ordinance since a great deal of the village is zoned r-1. Stay tuned, it will be interesting to say the least.