Orange County, NY Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)

Orange County adopted the Right-to-Farm Policy as Local Law No. 6 of 2006, declaring it county policy to conserve and encourage agricultural land use as nonagricultural development pushes into farm areas (Section 1). Section 2 defines 'agricultural activities' by cross-reference to Section 301 of Article 25-AA of the state Agriculture and Markets Law: field crops, vegetables, fruit, livestock and livestock products including cattle, sheep, horses and poultry, Christmas tree operations, aquaculture and forestry products such as maple syrup. 'Farmland' means land within an Orange County Agricultural District created under Section 303 of Article 25-AA, or land receiving an agricultural assessment under Section 306.

The 'right to farm' explicitly covers large irrigation pumps, aerial and ground seeding and spraying, transporting slow-moving equipment on county roads, and hiring farm labor, at any hour of any day including holidays, with the resulting noise, odors, dust and fumes folded into the protected activity. Section 3 is the operative shield: agricultural activities on farmland that follow sound agricultural practices, as the state Commissioner of Agriculture and Markets may determine, and that comply with other federal, state and local law, are deemed reasonable and cannot be found a nuisance.

Section 4 encourages town planning boards to require a right-to-farm notice recorded in subdivision deeds near working farms. Section 5 requires sellers of property inside an Orange County Agricultural District to give buyers written notice under Real Property Law Section 333-c before closing. Section 6 routes farm-versus-neighbor disputes to the Dispute Resolution Center at 14 Scotchtown Avenue in Goshen for mediation under the state's Agricultural Mediation Program. The law took effect January 1, 2007, after passing the County Legislature 19-0 on July 6, 2006.