Stafford County, VA Right to Farm: Agricultural Zoning Protection (2026)

Section 28-34 states the A-1 district's purpose is to reserve areas for traditional agricultural activities and provide for their continuation and preservation of rural character; A-2 Rural Residential is described as a density transition district between A-1 and the county's growth areas. 1 backs that purpose with a long by-right use list for A-1: agriculture, agricultural operations for livestock and poultry, agri-tourism activity, aquaculture, farm breweries, farm wineries, farmers markets, forestry on twenty or more acres with a Department of Forestry-approved plan, wayside stands, accessory dwellings, single-family dwellings and home occupations or Home Business I.

A livestock or poultry operation on a parcel under two acres needs a conservation farm plan approved by the Tri-County City Soil and Water Conservation District or another applicable agency before it qualifies as by-right. A feedlot must keep a 900-foot setback from any perennial stream, and slaughter or animal processing incidental to an intensive agricultural use is capped to sites of ten acres or more and inspected by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. More intensive or nuisance-prone agricultural activity, an animal feeding operation, an agricultural service establishment on lots of five acres or more, a commercial kennel, or an event venue on lots over twenty acres, moves to the conditional use or special exception column rather than being barred outright.

Stafford's own code carries no separate right-to-farm nuisance-immunity ordinance; the protection here runs entirely through zoning, by classifying land A-1 or A-2 and building a broad by-right list around core farm uses.