Bonner County, ID Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)

Title 16 of the Bonner County Revised Code lets landowners create Agriculture Protection Areas (APAs) voluntarily to protect and preserve agricultural land. An applicant must own five acres or more that has been in active agricultural or forest production for the previous three consecutive years, consistent with Idaho Code sections 63-604 and 63-1701. The Agriculture Protection Area Commission is an advisory board to the Board of County Commissioners, created under Idaho Code section 67-9705 and section 16-201.

The nuisance protection sits in the § 16-302 definition of NUISANCES. It begins by recognizing that Idaho is a right-to-farm state and that agricultural operations and facilities under chapter 45, title 22, Idaho Code, are protected from nuisance actions when they follow recognized farming practices. It then directs that any county law defining or prohibiting a public nuisance must exclude agricultural protection areas, for agricultural activity inside the area, as long as the operations follow those practices.

Subsection B turns that into a defense. In a civil action for nuisance or a criminal action for public nuisance, it is a complete defense if the otherwise lawful agricultural activity was conducted within an agricultural protection area, did not violate any federal, state or local law or regulation relating to the alleged nuisance, and used recognized farming practices. The title defines agriculture production by reference to land actively devoted to agriculture under Idaho Code section 63-604 or forest land under section 63-1701. Land outside a designated APA does not get this county-level exclusion, and the Planning Director, appointed by the Board of County Commissioners, is the county official the title names for administration.