Johnston County, NC Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

S. S. Chapter 153A (§ 3-26). A seven-to-nine member Agricultural Advisory Board, appointed by the commissioners with input from the Soil and Water Conservation District, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Farm Service Agency and the Johnston County Farm Bureau, reviews applications and administers the program (§§ 3-40, 3-41, 3-48). A district forms once qualifying farmland reaches 25 contiguous acres, or once three qualifying farms sit within a half mile of one another (§ 3-65); land already enrolled can stay in a district even if withdrawals drop it below that threshold, so long as one qualifying farm remains (§ 3-67).

S. 2, follows any required erosion-control practices, and is placed under a recorded conservation agreement barring non-farm development for at least ten years except for up to three lots that meet county zoning and subdivision rules (§ 3-75). The Advisory Board must approve or deny an application within 90 days after routing it to the Tax Assessor, the Soil and Water Conservation District and the USDA for comment (§ 3-91); a denied applicant has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Commissioners, whose decision is final (§ 3-92).

Conservation agreements run for ten years and renew automatically unless either side gives 30 days' written notice (§ 3-126). S. 106-740, no state or local agency may formally start condemnation of qualifying farmland inside a district until the Advisory Board holds a public hearing, reviews the project's need and alternatives, and issues findings within a total of 60 days (§§ 3-145, 3-146). Johnston County also records notice of district proximity in the land records system, with no county liability for good-faith errors in that notice (§ 3-160).