Farmland

Farmers and agricultural property owners are often the subject of eminent domain matters. Takings from farm or agricultural properties may affect your farm accesses (or limit them), damage or remove culverts, cause flooding issues, damage drainage tiles, cause point row damages, or many other possibilities that make it more difficult and less efficient for you to farm your property.

You are entitled to be compensated for these types of damages. If you have livestock, the issues may vary greatly and sometimes the damages are severe. Certain livestock, including hog farms, are highly regulated and require certain access, size and management procedures for waste. These are items that the government or taking agency will often neglect and fail or refuse to offer compensation. Usually, the appraisers hired by the government or taking agency will not have special knowledge of your type of farm or agricultural property.

Indiana Property Rights attorneys have extensive experience handling eminent domain and condemnation matters and can help you. Contact us for a free case evaluation and to learn more about your legal rights and options if the government is taking your farm or agricultural property.

Farmland Case Study

An agricultural property owner and farmer in southern Indiana had his property split into two separate tracts due to his land being condemned by the government, one of which was completely landlocked.

Initially, the government was going to offer to compensate the farmer for the severance damages caused to the landlocked parcel (an uneconomic remnant). Then the government determined it may be less expensive for it to provide a farm-quality access to the landlocked residue parcel, thinking that would cure the damages.

Eventually, the landowner hired an attorney. As it turns out, the access the government provided was subject to severe intermittent flooding and was usually under water during the planting season. It was so bad that standard farm equipment was incapable of traversing the access during the flooding. This rendered the access nearly worthless and the severed parcel extremely unproductive for farming. Luckily for this landowner, he was represented by an attorney who worked with a real estate appraiser and advised his client about his rights prior to accepting the government’s offer for the property.