The Texas Right to Farm Act, Agriculture Code Chapter 251, protects established agricultural operations from nuisance lawsuits and local regulations after one year of operation. SB 1421 (2023) significantly strengthened protections, preempting municipal ordinances that restrict generally accepted agricultural practices.
Agriculture Code Chapter 251 provides that no nuisance action may be brought against an agricultural operation in operation for one year or more if conditions or circumstances complained of did not exist when operations began. SB 1421 (2023) expanded the act to require courts to award costs and attorney fees to prevailing farms and to limit municipal authority to regulate generally accepted agricultural practices. Local Government Code 251.005 limits annexation and zoning of land qualified for agricultural appraisal under Tax Code 23.51. Cities and counties cannot enforce ordinances that prohibit established farm operations from continuing or expanding within reasonable scope.
Plaintiffs in failed nuisance suits must pay farm operator costs and reasonable attorney fees; municipalities enforcing preempted ordinances face injunctive relief.
Other ordinances people look up for this city. Green dot = verified primary-source excerpt.
Richmond, TX
Richmond does not publish a code section setting numeric residential quiet hours. Loud noise complaints are addressed through Chapter 22 (Nuisances) and Texa...
Richmond, TX
Richmond requires durable fence materials and bans scrap lumber, plywood, sheet metal, plastic, fiberglass, barbed wire, welded wire, agricultural fencing, a...
Richmond, TX
Richmond requires the finished side of any fence to face outward toward neighbors and the right-of-way, and forbids placing a fence outside surveyed lot line...
Richmond, TX
Richmond requires a fence permit for new construction, replacement with different materials, height changes, reconfiguration, driveway gates, and any fence e...
Richmond, TX
Richmond limits residential fences to 42 inches in front yards and six feet in side and rear yards, with narrow exceptions for steel tubular and wrought iron...
Richmond, TX
Richmond, as an incorporated city in Fort Bend County, bars outdoor burning of brush, debris, and trash inside the city limits regardless of state burn-ban s...
See how Richmond's farm nuisance protection rules stack up against other locations.
Help us keep this page accurate. If you notice an error or outdated information, let us know.