According to ESMagazine, the French parliament has passed a law to protect farmers from complaints by neighbors regarding noise or odors from agricultural activities, aiming to halt lawsuits from former city dwellers who bought houses in rural areas.

The bill, proposed by the governing majority parliamentarian Nicole Le Peih and supported by President Emmanuel Macron's centrist government, was approved with 78 votes against and 12 at the beginning of this week and will now move to the Senate.

"This law will put an end to abusive lawsuits against farmers who are just doing their job: feeding us. It is a proposal of common sense, common sense from the countryside," said Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti on the X social media platform. French governments have long courted farmers, an influential sector that Paris ignores at its own risk.

The country has a history of conflicts between former residents who buy countryside homes and then complain about roosters crowing, dogs barking, noise from agricultural machinery, or the smell of manure.

BFM TV reported that nearly 500 farmers are currently facing lawsuits from neighbors who have issues with the noise or smells emanating from their farms.

In 2019, in a case that attracted international media attention, a court ruled that a rooster named Maurice could continue crowing at dawn, despite complaints from neighbors in a village on a small island off the Atlantic coast of France.

France already has legislation, introduced in 2021, to protect the "sensory heritage of French rural areas," but the new law aims to provide more protection for existing farms from newly arrived residents in the area.

"Proud to support those who work in our fields. Now to the Senate," said Luc Smessaert, vice president of the agricultural union FNSEA, on X.

Ecologist from the Brittany region Claire Desmares told the local station France Bleu that the proposed law is an "absurd and populist" measure proposed by the powerful agricultural lobby.