Opinion ID: 2747908
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Agriculture Protection Act

Text: [¶14] Although not stated explicitly, the scope of the Agriculture Protection Act indicates a purpose to support the viability of agriculture in Maine by ensuring that farms employing best management practices are not deemed to be public or private nuisances or to be in violation of local law if they are in compliance with state and federal law. See 7 M.R.S. §§ 153, 154, 1-A (2013). Accordingly, the Agriculture Protection Act provides that, if a farm or farm operation is using best management practices, a locality cannot find that a “method of operation used by a farm or farm operation located in an area where agricultural activities are permitted” violates a municipal ordinance. Id. § 154.7 [¶15] The Agriculture Protection Act defines a “farm” as “the land, plants, animals, buildings, structures, ponds and machinery used in the commercial production of agricultural products.” Id. § 152(5). The Act defines “agricultural 7 By the plain language of the statute, this particular protection is not extended to agricultural composting operations. 7 M.R.S. § 154 (2013). Agricultural composting operations are expressly included in section 153, which protects a “farm, farm operations, or agricultural composting operation” from being “considered a public or private nuisance.” 7 M.R.S. § 153 (2013) (emphasis added). This would suggest that the omission in section 154 was intentional. See Wescott v. Allstate Ins. 397 A.2d 156, 168-69 (Me. 1979) (when terms included in one section of a law are not included in another section of a law, omission may be deemed intentional). 10 products” as including a variety of plant and animal products, and any plant, animal, or plant or animal product that supplies people with “food, feed, fiber or fur,” but does not expressly include compost, manure, or similar products. Id. § 152(2). The Agriculture Protection Act separately defines “agricultural composting operation” as “composting that takes place on a farm.” Id. § 152(1). [¶16] Given these definitions, Dubois is not a “farm” for purposes of the Agriculture Protection Act. Dubois does not produce “agricultural products,” as defined by the Agriculture Protection Act, on site. Instead, it imports thousands of tons of materials, including fish waste from seafood processors, horse manure and bedding from Scarborough Downs, and cow manure and other materials from various off-site locations. Creating a product like compost, which may be used by landscapers, home gardeners, and perhaps farmers, does not make Dubois a “farm” for purposes of section 154 protection. Further, under the Act’s definitions, Dubois must be a “farm” in order to be an “agricultural composting operation.” Even if it could be an “agricultural composting operation” without being a “farm,” agricultural composting operations are omitted from the section 154 prohibition of municipalities finding that a farm’s method of operation violates a local ordinance. See supra n.7. Pursuant to both the Agriculture Protection Act and the Ordinance, 11 farms that compost their own byproducts are treated differently from operations that compost organic waste created off-site. See Ordinance § 2.2.8 [¶17] Even if Dubois’s operation were a farm, the Agriculture Protection Act does not preempt the Town’s Ordinance. Although the Act prohibits a municipality from determining that a farm’s method of operation violates a local ordinance if the farm has used “best management practices,” there is no indication that, in enacting the Agriculture Protection Act, the Legislature intended to preempt any ordinance or occupy the field. In fact, the Agriculture Protection Act explicitly states that it “does not affect municipal authority to enact ordinances.” 7 M.R.S. § 155. [¶18] The Ordinance also does not frustrate the purpose of the Agriculture Protection Act. The Act aims to protect farms using best practices from nevertheless having their methods of operation considered to be in violation of local regulations, and Dubois did not meet its burden of demonstrating that the Ordinance would frustrate this goal. The conditional use permit allowed representatives from the Town to inspect Dubois’s premises to ensure that the compost pad was intact and that the facility was in compliance with the permit (some version of which had been in effect since 2000). Dubois made no showing 8 The Ordinance expressly exempts composting of animal manure “generated on the site” from the definition of a solid waste processing facility. Ordinance § 2.2. 12 that it was following best practices when it violated the Ordinance by failing to report its annual intake to the Town or to allow Town representatives to inspect its premises. [¶19] In sum, the Agriculture Protection Act does not preempt the Ordinance because the Legislature has expressly allowed local regulation and thus has not expressed a clear intent to occupy the field, and the Town’s Ordinance does not frustrate the purpose of the Act.