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MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that chemicals drifting from one farm to another do not constitute trespassing under state law, a decision that could make it harder for organic farmers to seek relief if crops are damaged by pesticide drift.

In reversing a 2011 appeals court ruling, the Supreme Court said Minnesota does not recognize trespassing by “particulate matter.” The high court said the earlier appeals court ruling that found otherwise went “beyond our precedent.”

The ruling came in the case of organic farmers Oluf and Debra Johnson, who sued the Paynesville Farmers Union Cooperative Oil Company in 2009. The Johnsons alleged that the co-op repeatedly sprayed pesticides that drifted onto their fields, preventing them from selling their crops as organic.

The Johnsons claim that they lost money when they destroyed crops and took contaminated fields out of organic production to remain in compliance with organic farming regulations.

“As a public policy thing, it is a very momentous decision,” the Johnsons’ attorney, Arlo Vande Vegte, said. “They are tipping their hat in favor of the conventional farmers … and the pesticide industry, which is huge.”

However, the Supreme Court said the district court never considered the Johnsons’ nuisance or negligence claims, so those claims were sent back to the district court for consideration.

“Trespass claims address tangible invasions of the right to exclusive possession of land, and nuisance claims address invasions of the right to use and enjoyment of land,” Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea wrote for the majority opinion.