WRAL Investigates' reporting on farm parties is prompting lawmakers to consider changes to state law. Two lawmakers say they are engaged in conversations about amending the agritourism law to close the loophole that allows these parties.
WRAL Investigates has reported on the parties, and concerns from neighbors, community groups and law enforcement about safety, quality of life and underage drinking.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Currently, state law defines "agritourism" as "any activity carried out on a farm or ranch that allows members of the general public, for recreational, entertainment or educational purposes, to view or enjoy rural activities ..."
An agritourism designation can enable property owners to skirt county zoning ordinances and building codes, making it easier to host large parties without restrictions on things like the number of people, or the provision of bathrooms or parking spaces.
Brent Jackson, a farmer and Republican senator representing Eastern North Carolina, called the farm parties "abuse" of agritourism. When he initially sponsored a bill about agritourism years ago, he says the intent was to support things like strawberry picking and class field trips -- not large college parties.
>> Orange County farm owner charged after dozens of complaints about large party
>> 'I have never seen a party like this in my whole life': More than 70 calls to 911 for one farm party
>> 'I'm not guilty:' Owner of Orange Co. farm party property appears in court
"We have known of some of the abuse of agritourism for a couple years now," Jackson said. "And to be honest with you, it was not a burning issue at that time. But now with what we’re seeing and thanks to WRAL’s coverage, it has become more of a burning issue."
Jackson said he and Sen. Graig Meyer, a Democrat representing Orange, Person and Caswell counties are having conversations about how to tweak state law.
Jackson noted that there are only a very small minority of people causing problems. He wants to ensure any change to state law would not harm those who are using agritourism as intended.
"We need to stop the abuse of the agritourism law," Meyer told WRAL. "There’s abuse of people who are using the agritourism law as a way to have what really should be regulated commercial events … and we need to be able to regulate those for safety, for the wellbeing of the community, etc."
Meyer said they are exploring how to limit the definition of agritourism.
"We have to put some boundaries around it," he said.
The lawmakers recently met with Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood for his perspective.
As WRAL has reported, farm parties have occurred in Orange County, including one in May that Sheriff Blackwood said included more than 2,500 attendees, and resulted in more than 70 calls to 911. It also led ALE to file multiple charges to the property owner for aiding and abetting underage drinking, and to partygoers, for DWI and underage drinking.
Sens. Meyer and Jackson told WRAL that, as they look at tweaking the law, they believe law enforcement should use the laws already on the books to try to put a stop to the dangerous parties.
"A lot of folks will come here first because that’s the easy betting," Jackson said. "We just do a bill, get it done, then it’s law, instead of actually using some of the laws that are already on the books."
In a statement, Blackwood told WRAL: "My conversations with Senator Jackson are ongoing, but I feel we both recognize there is much low hanging fruit to help both sides of this issue reach a workable solution. My hope is that we can continue to work towards that end."
"The farm parties in the most abusive examples do require active enforcement from law enforcement or code enforcement or whatever it can be," Meyer said. "And we probably need to make a few small adjustments to the law to give counties a little more authority to try to prevent bad actors who want to misuse the law and set up really dangerous situations."