Albuquerque, NM Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

The IDO's R-A (Rural and Agricultural) zone district exists, per its stated purpose in § 14-16-2-3(A)(1), to provide lower-density single-family residential development combined with limited agricultural uses on lots generally a quarter acre or larger, plus limited civic and institutional uses. Table 2-3-1 backs that purpose with a 10,890-square-foot minimum lot size and 75-foot minimum lot width, larger than any other residential zone district in the city. Beyond the zone itself, the IDO's General Agriculture use-specific standard in § 14-16-4-3(D)(4) sets the actual rules for keeping farm animals wherever the use is allowed on the zoning table: the lot must be at least 1 acre, and animal density is capped at 1 cow or horse per 10,000 square feet of net lot area, or 1 sheep or goat per 4,000 square feet of open lot area (animals under 4 months old don't count toward the cap).

Animals must be fenced or otherwise controlled so they cannot graze on a neighboring property, and any pen, barn, or corral built to house them has to sit at least 20 feet from any residential dwelling, whether that dwelling is on the same lot or next door. Smaller-scale keeping of chickens, rabbits, and other animals in ordinary residential zones falls under a separate accessory-use standard with its own, lower caps; this General Agriculture standard is specifically for larger-lot agricultural operations, most commonly found in the R-A zone and other large-lot residential and mixed-use districts where the use is listed as allowed on Table 4-2-1.