Ocala, FL Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)

City of Ocala Code § 118-137 regulates fertilizer application citywide, capping nitrogen at 0.7 pounds of readily available nitrogen per 1,000 square feet per application and phosphorus at 0.25 pounds per 1,000 square feet per application, and setting fertilizer-free zones within ten feet of ponds, streams, lakes, canals and wetlands. Sec. 118-137(m) carves out two exemptions from all of those limits. The first, Sec. 118-137(m)(1), exempts 'bona fide farm operations as defined in the Florida Right to Farm Act, F.S. § 823.14,' provided the operator applies fertilizer under the Best Management Practices Manual adopted by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Office of Agricultural Water Policy for the specific crop being grown.

The second, Sec. 118-137(m)(2), extends a parallel exemption to properties with grazing pastures that fall outside the Right to Farm Act's coverage, on the same condition that they follow the applicable DACS best-management-practices manual. Because the exemption is written into the city's own fertilizer ordinance rather than left to the state statute alone, a working farm or grazing pasture inside Ocala's city limits does not have to meet the section's numeric nitrogen and phosphorus caps, its fertilizer-free buffer zones, or its commercial-applicator training and certification requirements in Sec. 118-137(n)-(o), so long as it follows the DACS-approved practices manual for its crop.