Kern County, CA Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)

56, adopted by Ordinance G-6664 in 2000, declares that agricultural, ranching, hydrocarbon extraction or refining, energy production and mining operations, along with related transportation activity, are not a public or private nuisance if they were lawfully established and are run consistent with the customs and standards of similar operations in the same locality. 6(e), tying the county ordinance directly to California's broader right-to-farm framework. The key trigger is timing: if the farm, ranch, oilfield, or mine was not a nuisance when it began operating, a later change in the surrounding area, such as new homes built nearby, cannot retroactively convert it into an actionable nuisance.

This matters in Kern County because agriculture and oil and gas extraction sit directly adjacent to expanding residential subdivisions in the unincorporated county, and the ordinance is designed to prevent newcomers from using nuisance litigation to shut down established ag and energy operations. The shield is not absolute. 010(B) carves out two exceptions: the protection does not apply where the activity obstructs the free passage or customary use of a navigable lake, river, bay, stream, canal, basin, or a public park, square, street, or highway, and it does not apply if the activity independently qualifies as a nuisance under any provision of statewide California law.

Property owners who believe an ag or energy operation is violating one of those carve-outs, or that the operation was itself a nuisance from day one, retain their normal civil remedies through the courts.