Martin County, FL Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

The Land Development Regulations build agricultural protection into the zoning map itself rather than through a single free-standing right-to-farm ordinance. Sec. 411 creates the A-1A Agricultural District and Sec. 1 the A-1 Small Farms District, both requiring a minimum two-acre lot with 25-foot front, rear and side yards and permitting flower farms, nurseries, groves, greenhouses, truck farming, fruit growing, poultry raising and roadside produce stands. Sec. 412 creates the A-2 Agricultural District, which incorporates every use permitted in A-1 and A-1A and adds stock raising, stables, dog kennels, agricultural packinghouses and hunting camps, subject to a five-acre minimum lot area and the same 25-foot front, rear and side yard standards, plus a 50-foot setback from the center line of a non-through-traffic right-of-way and 65 feet from a designated through-traffic highway.

Beyond the zoning districts themselves, Sec. 461, from the county's site plan and development order procedures in Sec. 11, meaning a working farm does not have to run the same development review process as a subdivision or commercial project. The county's noise ordinance carries a parallel protection: Sec. F of the Code of Ordinances exempts noises incidental to the activities of bona fide agricultural operations, excepting broadcast equipment, from the countywide noise standards. Subdivision Sec. 7 adds an agricultural exception to the platting requirement, letting land be divided for bona fide agricultural use without going through subdivision plat approval as long as no parcel smaller than 20 acres is created and no new public street results.