Nash County, NC Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)

Section 16-53(10) of the Nash County Code lists noise from bona fide farm purposes among the activities exempt from Chapter 16, Article III's noise ordinance, which otherwise makes loud and raucous noise a public nuisance under § 16-51. S. 1's broad definition of agriculture, covering crops, grains, fruits, vegetables, ornamental and flowering plants, dairy, livestock, poultry and other forms of agriculture. It expressly reaches activities incidental to farming, including the use of traditional and modern methods and technology to protect crops, livestock and farm products from wildlife and pests, without limitation the use of scarecrows, fences, streamers, dogs, firearms and propane cannons.

The ordinance sets out four kinds of evidence the county will accept, though none is required alone, to show a property is being used for bona fide farm purposes: a farm sales tax exemption certificate from the Department of Revenue, a property tax listing showing enrollment in the present-use value program, the owner's or operator's Schedule F from a recent federal tax return, or a forest management plan. Separately, Nash County's Voluntary Agricultural District program, Chapter 3, Article II, states as one of its purposes decreasing the likelihood of nuisance disputes between farm owners and their neighbors, and county-certified VAD or enhanced VAD farmland carries additional protections under that article, including notice requirements and a public hearing process before any local agency can condemn qualifying farmland.