N.C. Cooperative Extension has published two new fact sheets regarding a farm operator’s or landowner’s liability for injuries to the public on and off the farm. The first – Liability Defenses for Injury of Farm Visitors (AG-895-01)  – was written to support educational needs of agritourism operators, and has been the subject to a number of presentations before and during the pandemic on the general concept of liability and how operations are protected by several sections of Chapter 99E of the NC General Statutes.

The second  – titled Liability for Injury from Livestock (AG-895-02) – concerns the status of North Carolina law regarding farm operator and landowner liability for injuries from animals on and off the farm. The publication is in response to questions from livestock agents and members of the public on such matters, such as when a cow pushes through a fence or gate and is discovered out on the highway by a motorist or law enforcement.

Both fact sheets are published under a new series, Farm Law for Operators and Landowners, which will serve as the vehicle for publication of materials related to laws on land use and commercial farm operations. Readers may find various narratives in draft pre-published on the farmlaw.ces.ncsu.edu website. Both publications were supported in part by the NC Tobacco Trust Fund (Grant award 2019-001-16) and are included in a new workbook titled So You Inherited a Farm supporting the upcoming Land Summit series scheduled for the Sandhills (Carthage, February 8-10, 2022) and the High Country (West Jefferson, March 30) (details later).

Please direct any feedback, suggestions, and questions to Andrew Branan at rabrana2@ncsu.edu.