The right to farm all land is hereby recognized to exist as
a natural right and is also hereby ordained to exist as a permitted
use everywhere in the Township of Plumsted subject only to size requirements
and to Township health and sanitary codes. The right to farm as it
is used in this section includes the use of irrigation pumps and equipment,
aerial and ground seeding and spraying, tractors, farm laborers, and
the application of chemical fertilizers, insecticides and herbicides
as well as other mechanized equipment and modern procedures; all for
the purpose of producing from the land agricultural products such
as vegetables, grains, hay, fruits, fibers, wood, trees, plants, shrubs,
flowers and seeds, as well as the propagation and maintenance of horses,
cows and other grazing stock.
In accordance with the purposes and preambles set forth herein,
the following farming activities shall be deemed established as acceptable,
recognized, and entitled to encouragement and protection as the collective
embodiment of the right to farm, subject to all cases, however, to
any supervening applicable federal, state and county laws or regulating
the public health, safety or otherwise:
A. Produce
agricultural and horticultural crops. Trees and forest products, livestock,
poultry and other related commodities.
B. Provide
for the wholesale and retail marketing, including "U-Pick" marketing
and sales of the agricultural output of the commercial farm and related
products that contribute to farm income, including the construction
of building and parking areas in conformance with applicable municipal
standards.
C. Replenish
soil nutrients, including, but not limited to, the spreading of manure
and applying chemical and organic fertilizers.
D. Use
federally-approved products in accordance with labeled instructions
as recommended by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station and
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the control of pests,
predators, varmints, disease affecting plants and livestock, and for
the control of weed infestation.
E. Clear
woodlands using open burning and other accepted techniques and install
and maintain vegetative and terrain alterations and other physical
facilities for water and soil conservation and surface water control
in wetland areas.
F. Use
irrigation pumps and equipment and undertake aerial and ground seeding
and spraying using tractors and other necessary equipment.
G. Hire
and utilize necessary farm labor.
I. Transport
large, slow-moving equipment over roads within the Township.
J. Conduct
farming activities on holidays and Sundays as well as weekdays, in
the evening and during the day, notwithstanding the production thereby
of normal but unavoidable noise, dust, odors and fumes caused by such
necessary activities when conducted in accordance with recognized
practices.
For the purpose of giving due notice of nearby farming uses
to proposed new residential areas adjacent to unimproved land then
being commercially farmed or suitable therefor, the Planning Board
shall require an applicant for an adjacent major or minor subdivision,
as a condition of approval of such application, to include a provision
in each and every contract for and deed conveying all or any portion
of the lands thereby subdivided, as well as on filed final subdivision
maps, the following record notice to and waiver by grantees of such
present or future proximate farming uses, which such provision shall
be made to run with the land:
"Grantee hereby acknowledges notice that there are presently
or may in the future be farm uses adjacent or in close proximity to
the above described premises from which may emanate noise, ordinances,
and, by acceptance of this conveyance, Grantee does hereby waive objection
to such activities."
For the purposes of interpretation of this chapter, the following
definitions shall apply:
FARM
An area of land of single or multiple contiguous or non-contiguous
parcels which is actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural
use, including, but not limited to, crop land, pasture, idle or fallow
land, woodland, wetlands, farm ponds, farm roads and certain farm
buildings and other enclosures related to agricultural pursuits.
COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE
The production principally for sale to others of plants and
animals or their products, including, but not limited to, forage and
sod crops, grain and feed crops, dairy animals and dairy products,
livestock, including beef cattle, poultry, sheep, swine, horses, ponies,
mules and goats; the breeding and grazing of such animals, bees and
apiary products, fruits of all kinds, including grapes, nuts and berries,
vegetables, nursery, floral, ornamental and greenhouse products.
HOME AGRICULTURE
The production principally for home use or consumption of
plants, animals or their products and for sale to others where such
sales are incidental, including, but not limited to, gardening, fruit
production, and poultry and livestock products for household use only.