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

040 declares it county policy to preserve agricultural land and prevent nonagricultural development from pushing farms out through nuisance litigation. Subsection (B) is the operative protection: no commercial agricultural activity, operation or facility, conducted consistently with the customs and standards of similar operations, can be found a nuisance, public or private, due to a changed condition in the surrounding area, once it has operated for more than one year, provided it wasn't already a nuisance when it began. Subsection (C) defines 'agricultural activity' broadly to include tillage, dairying, growing timber, Christmas trees, grapes, apiculture, nursery stock, horticulture, raising livestock, fur-bearing animals, fish, poultry and game birds, plus post-harvest activities like preparing goods for market or delivering them to storage or a carrier.

Subsection (D) limits the protection to 'commercial' agriculture: land in a designated agricultural area, land under a California Land Conservation Act contract, land in a timber preserve zone, or land producing at least $4,500 in gross annual income from agricultural product sales. The ordinance also imposes disclosure duties: under subsection (E), every seller of unincorporated Placer County property, or the seller's agent, must inform a prospective buyer of the right-to-farm ordinance and keep a signed disclosure statement on file with escrow, and under subsection (F), whenever a residential building is proposed on county property, the owner or agent must acknowledge receipt of the ordinance. These disclosure steps put new residents on notice before they move in next to an established farm, ranch or vineyard.