For years Jason Struthers has made a living growing vegetables, raising ducks and cultivating cannabis in his Essex Junction backyard, but not without controversy. Neighbors argued first to the city, then later in court, that his half-acre farm has no place in their residential neighborhood — and the Vermont Supreme Court recently ruled in agreement. 

The May 30 ruling reversed a lower court’s decision, with justices reasoning that towns and cities in Vermont can regulate both cannabis cultivation and farming practices by enforcing local zoning laws. 

It’s the latest development in a long controversy over state versus local authority, and a win for Stephen and Sharon Wille Padnos, who live next door to Struthers and have advocated against Struthers’ farm. 

“I will say we had a good weekend,” said Stephen Wille Padnos. He and his wife are celebrating the hard fought win and hoping the next legal processes aren’t drawn out, he said. 

Meanwhile, Struthers is “absolutely gobsmacked” and confused, he said. The attitude expressed in the ruling disrupts a tradition of supporting agriculture in Vermont, Struthers said. And he’s talking to his lawyers about ways to fight the decision every way he can, he said. 

Struthers has a state license to grow cannabis on his property and is recognized by the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets as a farm for his duck-raising and vegetable farming. But neighbors take issue with the smell of his plants and the sound of his ducks in their suburban neighborhood. 

The Wille Padnoses reason that he shouldn’t be able to run a farm or cultivate cannabis on their quiet cul-de-sac because they live within the city’s residential zone and within 500 feet of Essex High School property. In turn, Struthers argues that he’s exempt from the city’s regulations because he’s protected by state agriculture and cannabis laws. 

Legally, his farming practices and cannabis cultivation are two separate matters. But Struthers uses manure from his ducks to fertilize his cannabis plants. He sees any regulation of his ducks as de-facto regulation of his cultivation, he said. 

And many have tried to make sense of the legal ambiguities. 

Back in September 2023, the Essex Junction Developmental Review Board ruled that Struthers’ duck raising violated local zoning laws, while stating the city had little power to regulate or zone his cannabis cultivation. 

The decision raised frustration from both sides. Struthers appealed, arguing the city was out of line by trying to regulate his farming, according to court documents. The Wille Padnoses also appealed, but for the opposite reason. They argued the city wasn’t doing enough to regulate Struthers’ cannabis. 

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At the next level of appeal, Thomas Walsh, a judge in the Environmental Division of Vermont Superior Court, ruled in Struthers’ favor on both matters in August. He said the regulation of farming and cultivation was out of the city’s hands. 

Then, last week the state Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the environmental court. In their ruling, justices wrote that the “landowner’s cannabis-cultivation operation is not exempt from all municipal regulation simply because he is a licensed outdoor cannabis cultivator.” In the same ruling, justices also said state law “does not prohibit all municipal regulation of farming.” 

Next, the case will be passed back down to the lower court, and Walsh can rule on the case again — this time bearing in mind the interpretation of the Supreme Court. 

After the ruling, city officials will decide what action they could take. “We will be carefully considering next steps to ensure we are consistent with this decision; this will likely include coordination with other regulatory authorities,” Regina Mahony, the city manager of Essex Junction, said in an email to VTDigger.