Butte County, CA Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Chapter 24, Section 24-12 sets the purpose of the county's two agricultural zoning districts. The Agriculture (AG) zone exists to "support, protect, and maintain a viable, long-term agricultural sector," and does so mechanically: crop cultivation, animal grazing, stock ponds and agricultural processing are permitted outright, while more intensive operations such as animal processing, dairies, hog farms, stables, forestry, logging, and mining or oil extraction require a Conditional Use Permit from the Development Services Department. Only one single-family home plus one accessory dwelling unit is allowed per legally established parcel, alongside accessory housing for agricultural employees.

Critically, the AG zone sets a minimum parcel size of 20 to 160 acres, a fragmentation control meant to keep farmland in units large enough to stay economically viable. 8 floor area ratio, with residential use barred except for a caretaker's unit under an Administrative Use Permit. Separately, Code Sec. 35-6 gives operating farms a nuisance defense: an agricultural operation conducted on agricultural land "in a manner consistent with proper and accepted customs and standards" cannot become a legal nuisance if it was not one when it began, so long as it holds all required federal, state and county permits and approvals.

That protection does not extend to operations run negligently or improperly. Together the two provisions form the county's right-to-farm framework: zoning keeps large-acreage farmland intact and limits what non-agricultural neighbors can build nearby, while the nuisance carve-out stops newly arrived residents from later suing an established, lawfully run farm over routine dust, noise or odor.