After fielding numerous complaints from residents who said crop cannons virtually destroyed their quality of life this summer, the Little Compton Town Council is taking steps to address the problem before the issue pops up again with next year’s growing season.

Some farmers use the cannons as a way of deterring crop damage by birds. Those who live in proximity to the farms that employ these methods say the loud, incessant blasts coming from the machines are unbearable.

At the council's meeting last Thursday, councilor Gary Mataronas discussed the results of some informal research he undertook prior to the end of the growing season, when he spent 30 minutes on two different days listening to cannons at a local farm. He counted 28 blasts that first day and 32 on the second, which he said translated roughly to 600 blasts in a day.

Mataronas relayed these numbers to members of a small working group created by the council to address the problem, and said all agreed that 600 blasts a day is a nuisance.

The working group met for the first time on on Wednesday, Oct. 4. In addition to Mataronas, attendees included council president Bob Mushen, Senator Louis DiPalma (D-District 12), Tyler Young of Young Family Farm, and Rhode Island DEM officials Terry Gray, Ken Ayars and Ryan Mulcahey.

Mataronas said Ayars disputed a claim by local farmer Ian Walker, who justified his use of the cannons by citing the Rhode Island Right to Farm Act. Ayars responded that the act includes a clause that says farmers do not have a right to create a nuisance, and he said he would relay that message to Walker.

When an audience member at the town council meeting asked about the use of alternative deterrents such as laser technology, Mataronas said DEM officials are working with experts from the University of Rhode Island to explore such options.

“We don’t want to hurt the farmers ... If there is a solution, let’s find it and see what happens. We are on top of it and hopefully we will have a resolution before the next season starts.”

Responding to an audience member who questioned the lease policy of the town’s Agricultural Conservancy Trust (Ag Trust), Mataronas said the agency should determine in advance how the land will be used and if any subleases would be allowed, as is reportedly the case with the land Walker is farming that resulted in some of the noise complaints from neighbors.

“I think they (Ag Trust) have to have a responsibility to the citizens of this town to know what is going to be done with a property when they lease it.”

Mushen said reports to the community would continue in coming months, with the next discussion expected at the council’s second meeting in December.