These statutes, too, differ greatly by state but can generally be grouped into three categories. The National Agricultural Law Center has a collection of landowner liability statutes that can be viewed for each state, available on their website.
Recreational-use statutes
All 50 states have passed some version of a recreational-use statute. Recreational-use statutes are designed to encourage private landowners to enter private property for recreational purposes. In order to provide this incentive, these statutory schemes offer limited liability for landowners meeting their requirements.
Generally, these statutes apply to protect landowners from liability if a person is injured on their land while engaging in a recreational purpose. Although the specific definition of “recreational purpose” differs by state statute, most include common activities such as hunting, fishing, hiking, biking, swimming, water sports and nature walks.
Landowners should carefully review the requirements of the statute in their own state, as there may be requirements regarding whether a landowner may charge a fee and still be protected, or a certain level of liability insurance may be required in order to fall within the statutory scheme.
As with most statutes, there are exceptions to the offered protection. In Texas, for example, a landowner may still be liable for intentional acts or gross negligence, despite the state’s recreational-use statute. Landowners should carefully review their state’s statutory requirements.
Agritourism statutes
Agritourism statutes are a fairly new form of landowner protection. Over half of the states have adopted some form of agritourism statute. As would be expected, these statues vary greatly by state. In general, the statutes are designed to encourage local tourism and economic development by offering protections to agritourism entities in certain situations.
The requirements that must be met to obtain this protection are extremely diverse among states. In Oklahoma and North Dakota, for example, an entity must register with the state in order to be deemed a protected agritourism entity.
In Texas, conversely, no registration is required, but the entity must either hang up certain signage or obtain a signed release containing specific language from participants. In Missouri, an operator must register with the state and post required signage for protection to be available.
Equine/farm animal liability statutes
Most states (all but California, Maryland, Nevada and New York) have some sort of statute limiting liability if a person is injured while engaged in an equine or farm animal activity. Generally, these statutes offer protection to the landowner if a person’s injury is caused by a danger inherent to participating in this type of activity.
For example, under the Texas Farm Animal Liability Act, when a rider was bucked off a horse on a trail ride after the horse was spooked by a tree limb brushing his flank, this was found to be an inherent risk of engaging in an equine activity, and the statutory protection applied.
Conversely, most state statutes include a list of exceptions that would not be covered by the statutory protections.
One common exception that would not allow liability protection is when a landowner provides defective tack to a participant. This is not considered an inherent risk in most states and, therefore, the landowner may still face liability despite the statute.
The scope of these statutes varies among states as well. Many states offer protections only to equine animals, while others have modified their laws to extend to all farm animals.
Conclusion
Landowner liability is an issue that is governed by state law, and all landowners should take the time to review and understand basic liability law and to be aware of any statutory protections available in their state.
Further, all landowners should carefully consult with their insurance agents and ensure they have a liability policy covering the various activities occurring on their property. 
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Tiffany Dowell Lashmet
- Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist - Agricultural Law
- Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
- Email Tiffany Dowell Lashmet
