Provides limited civil liability immunity to farmers hosting agritourism activities.

A198

ASSEMBLY, No. 198

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman DAWN FANTASIA

District 24 (Morris, Sussex and Warren)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblymen Sauickie, Inganamort and Peterson

SYNOPSIS

���� Provides limited civil liability immunity to farmers
hosting agritourism activities.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act

limiting liability arising from agritourism
activities, supplementing Title 2A of the New Jersey Statutes, and repealing
P.L.1997, c.378.�

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� As used in this act:

���� �Agritourism activity� means
an interactive or passive activity, carried out with or without payment to an
agritourism host on a farm, related to agriculture, food production, historic
tradition, or nature watching, and which is conducted by an agritourism host
for the education, entertainment, or recreation of participants.� �Agritourism
activity� shall include, but shall not be limited to, a farming activity, the
viewing of an historic, cultural, or natural attraction, a pick-your-own
activity, nature watching, and an activity involving an animal exhibition at an
agricultural fair.�

���� �Agritourism activity� shall
not include a roadside farm stand or operation exclusively devoted to the sale
of merchandise or food at retail.�

���� �Agritourism host� means a
person who provides the facilities and equipment necessary to participate in an
agritourism activity.

���� �Farm� means any land, and
related structures and equipment, used for the production for sale of
agricultural, horticultural, viticultural, forestry, dairy, livestock, poultry,
bee, or other related products, and which qualifies for farmland assessment pursuant
to the "Farmland Assessment Act of 1964," P.L.1964, c.48

(C.54:4-23.1 et seq.).�

���� �Inherent risk� means any
danger or condition that is an integral part of, or arises from, an agritourism
activity, including, but not limited to, the propensity of a wild or domestic
animal to behave in ways that may result in injury or death to persons on or
near the wild or domestic animal; a hazard such as a surface or subsurface
condition; a natural condition of land, vegetation, or waters; the ordinary
dangers of structures or equipment used in farming; and the potential of a
participant to act in a negligent way that may contribute to injury or death to
the participant or others, such as failing to follow safety procedures or
failing to act with reasonable caution while engaging in an agritourism
activity.�

���� �Participant� means any person
who is invited onto the farm for the purpose of participating in an agritourism
activity.

���� 2.��� a.�� Notwithstanding the
provisions of any other law to the contrary, and except as provided in
subsection b. of this section, an agritourism host shall not have a legal duty
to protect a participant from the inherent risks of an agritourism activity,
and shall not be liable for injury to or death of a participant resulting from
the inherent risks of an agritourism activity, provided the agritourism host
gives proper warning as required pursuant to section 3 of this act.

���� b.��� Nothing in subsection a.
of this section shall limit the liability of an agritourism host who:

���� (1)� commits an act or
omission of gross negligence concerning the safety of a participant that
proximately causes injury or death to the participant;

���� (2)� has actual knowledge of a
dangerous condition on the land, facilities, or equipment used in the activity,
or the dangerous propensity of a particular animal used in the activity, that
proximately causes injury or death to the participant and does not make that
danger known to the participant;

���� (3)� intentionally injures a
participant; or

���� (4)� commits any other act,
error, or omission that constitutes willful or wanton misconduct, gross
negligence, or criminal conduct that proximately causes injury or death to the
participant.��

���� c.��� Any limitation on
liability afforded by this section to an agritourism host shall be in addition
to any other limitations on liability otherwise provided by law, including, but
not limited to, the limitations on liability for sport and recreational activities
in P.L.1968, c.73 (C.2A:42A-2 et seq.), for the operation of motor vehicles and
horseback riding in P.L.1985, c.431

(C.2A:42A-6 et seq.)., and for equine animal activity in P.L.1997,
c.287 (C.5:15-1 et seq.).�

���� 3.��� a.�� An agritourism host
shall post and maintain a sign in a clearly visible location at or near the
main entrance to each agritourism activity and in black letters at least one
inch in height containing the warning notice specified in subsection c. of this
section.�

���� b.��� Every written contract
entered into between an agritourism host and a participant for goods or
services related to an agritourism activity shall contain in clearly visible
print the warning notice specified in subsection c. of this section.�

���� c.��� The warning notice
required pursuant to subsections a. and b. of this section shall read:
�WARNING:� Under New Jersey law, an agritourism host is not liable for the
injury or death of a participant in an agritourism activity resulting from the
inherent risk of the agritourism activity.� Inherent risks include without
limitation the risk of animals, weather, land conditions, and the potential for
you as a participant to act in a negligent way that may contribute to your own
injury or death.� You are assuming the risk of participating in this
agritourism activity.��

���� d.��� Failure to comply with
the requirements of this section shall result in the agritourism host being
unable to invoke the limitation on liability provided in section 2 of this act.

���� 4.��� The provisions of this
act shall be liberally construed to serve as an inducement to the owners,
lessees, and occupants of farms, who might otherwise be reluctant to do so for
fear of liability, to host agritourism activities.�

���� 5.��� P.L.1997, c.378
(C.2A:42A-9 et seq.) is repealed.

���� 6.��� This act shall take
effect on the 90th day after the date of enactment, and shall apply only to
agritourism activities that occur on or after the effective date of this act.�

STATEMENT

���� This bill would provide
limited civil liability immunity to farmers hosting agritourism activities.�

���� An agritourism activity is an
interactive or passive activity, carried out without or without payment to an
agritourism host on a farm, related to agriculture, food production, historic
tradition, or nature watching, and which is conducted by an agritourism host
for the education, entertainment, or recreation of participants.� Agritourism
activities include farming activities, the viewing of cultural, historic, or
natural attractions, pick-your-own activities, nature watching, and activities
involving an animal exhibition at an agricultural fair.� It would not include
roadside farm stands or operations exclusively devoted to the sale of
merchandise or food at retail.� Under the bill, an agritourism host would not
have a legal duty to protect a participant from the inherent risks of an
agritourism activity, and would not be liable for injury to or death of a
participant resulting from the inherent risks of an agritourism activity,
provided the host gives proper warning as required in section 3 of the bill.

���� Proper warning, as specified
in the bill, is the posting of a warning notice on certain signs and
contracts.� That warning notice would read:� �WARNING:� Under New Jersey law,
an agritourism host is not liable for the injury or death of a participant in an
agritourism activity resulting from the inherent risk of the agritourism
activity.� Inherent risks include without limitation the risk of animals,
weather, land conditions, and the potential for you as a participant to act in
a negligent way that may contribute to your own injury or death.� You are
assuming the risk of participating in this agritourism activity.�� Failure to
follow the warning requirements would result in the agritourism host�s loss of
limited liability protections.

���� The limitation on liability
also would not extend to any agritourism host who:� (1) commits an act or
omission of gross negligence concerning the safety of a participant that
proximately causes injury or death to the participant; (2) has actual knowledge
of a dangerous condition on the land, facilities, or equipment used in the
activity or the dangerous propensity of a particular animal used in the
activity that proximately causes injury or death to the participant and does
not make that danger known to the participant; (3) intentionally injures a
participant; or (4) commits any other act, error, or omission that constitutes
willful or wanton misconduct, gross negligence, or criminal conduct that
proximately causes injury or death to the participant.� The limitation on
liability provided by the bill would be in addition to any other limitation on
liability provided by law, including, but not limited to, the limitations on
liability for outdoor sports and recreational activities and equine animal
activities.

���� Finally, the bill would repeal
P.L.1997, c.378 (C.2A:42A-9 et seq.) concerning farmer immunity for
�pick-your-own� operations.� The protections in that law would be included in
this bill, and are expanded to include agritourism activities generally.� This
bill is modeled substantially on legislation from Arkansas.