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

102(a) of the Right to Farm article states that no agricultural activity, operation, or facility conducted on agricultural lands for commercial purposes, and run consistent with proper and accepted customs of similar operations in the same locality, shall become a nuisance due to changed conditions in the surrounding area after it has operated for more than three years, provided it was not a nuisance when it began. The protection is not absolute: subsection (b) strips it away if the operation obstructs free passage of a navigable lake, river, bay, stream, canal, basin, or any public park, square, street, or highway, and subsection (c) preserves any nuisance definition found in the Health and Safety Code, Fish and Game Code, Food and Agricultural Code, or Division 7 of the Water Code.

Subsection (d) adds a procedural gate: no lawsuit alleging that an agricultural operation interfered with private property or personal well-being can proceed unless the plaintiff first sought a decision from the agricultural grievance committee under Sec. 104, or a decision was sought but never issued within the section's time limits; this does not stop a public agency from enforcing other laws directly. Sec. 104 defines that committee: five members appointed by the Board of Supervisors, two engaged in commercial agriculture, two with no financial interest in agricultural property, and one with agricultural production expertise, with the County Agricultural Commissioner serving as secretary.

Complaints must reach the committee within 30 days of the disputed activity or of the complainant becoming aware of it. Sec. 103 makes this chapter take precedence over any conflicting county ordinance or resolution. The article traces to Ordinance 1133, effective January 2, 1992, and applies specifically to land zoned Agricultural Preserve (A-P), Agricultural Exclusive (A-E), and Agricultural General (A-1) under the county zoning ordinances, as defined in Sec. 101(a).