A Florida appeals court is siding with a former pig farmer who shut down his business after voters passed the "pregnant pig" amendment more than a decade ago, according to AgClips, citing a report in Capital Press.

The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled in a split decision that the state owes a Panhandle farmer $505,000 plus interest.

Stephen Basford closed down his pork production operation in Jackson County after voters in 2002 approved an amendment that prohibited the tying up or confining of gestating sows in enclosures too small for them to turn around freely. Nearly 55 per cent of the state's voters approved the amendment, which did not actually take effect until 2008.

The measure applied to just two farms in the state, both of which went out of business.

State legislators attempted to compensate the two farms but then Governor Jeb Bush vetoed the funding.

Mr Basford sued the state in 2010 for the cost of the barns and other equipment he had used for his farm. He won at the circuit court level and the state appealed.

Stephen Turner, the Tallahassee attorney who represented Mr Basford, praised the latest ruling and called the amendment "dangerous".