LUBBOCK, Texas – Last week, about 79% of Texas voters approved Proposition 1, also known as the right to farming, ranching, timber production, horticulture and wildlife management amendment.
David Gibson, the Texas Corn Producers Association executive vice president, shared the local impact of the passing of Proposition 1 with EverythingLubbock.com on Tuesday.
The amendment will prevent the state legislature from passing laws to regulate farming, ranching, timber production, horticulture or wildlife practices to preserve the natural resources of the state.
Prop 1’s passing protects the owner’s right to use their land, said Gibson.
“Proposition 1 is going to help us be better neighbors,” Gibson said.
Gibson said, “Agricultural land for housing developments protects those folks from being put at a disadvantage.”
Although farmers and ranchers are in support of Proposition 1, animal care groups are against the amendment, the Texas Tribune reported. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the proposition would limit the local government’s ability to regulate farm conditions.
The organization said it would be “harder to hold corporations accountable for cruelly confining animals, endangering public health and damaging the environment.”
Judith McGeary, the executive director for Farm to Ranch Freedom Alliance said there are some absurd regulations to farming land, but those issues could be addressed in different ways, according to the Texas Tribune.
Housing developments being built near agricultural land would force landowners to comply with zoning restrictions.
The amendment would prevent zoning restrictions keeping farmers from planting crops at a certain height. Farmers will be able to continue agricultural development on their lands without any restrictions.
The South Plains area was not necessarily at risk for the restrictions, but Gibson said the parts of Texas that were the most at risk were towns in the Dallas and Fort Worth area as well as land on the Interstate 35 corridor.
