Marsh & Anor v Baxter

In *Marsh & Anor v Baxter*, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia considered a dispute between the owners of a property and a neighbouring farmer concerning the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops. The property owners sought an injunction to prevent the farmer from planting GM cotton on his adjacent land, alleging that the GM cotton would drift onto their property and interfere with their organic farming practices.

The central legal issues before the Court were whether the property owners had established a cause of action in nuisance, and if so, whether an injunction should be granted. Specifically, the Court had to determine if the potential for GM cotton to drift onto the neighbouring property constituted an actionable nuisance, and whether the economic interests of the organic farmers were sufficient to warrant injunctive relief against the farmer's lawful use of his land.

The Court ultimately found that the property owners had not established a cause of action in nuisance. Applying established principles of nuisance law, the Court held that the mere possibility of contamination from a lawful agricultural activity, without evidence of actual or imminent harm, was insufficient to constitute an actionable interference. The Court reasoned that the law of nuisance protects against unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of land, and in this instance, the speculative risk of drift did not meet that threshold. Furthermore, the Court considered the public interest in agricultural innovation and the farmer's right to use his land for lawful purposes, weighing these against the property owners' concerns.

The appeal was dismissed, and the injunction sought by the property owners was refused.