Township of Raritan, NJ Right to Farm

The right to farm land is recognized to exist in the Township and is declared a permitted use in the following zones and subject to the standards and regulations as set forth in the development regulations of the Township: AR-2, AR-5, R-1, R-1A, R-2, R-3, R-4, R-6, I-1, I-2 and O-2.

[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]

(1)

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 in all cases, however, to any supervening applicable federal, state, county or municipal laws or regulations respecting the public health, safety or otherwise:

(a)

Produce agricultural and horticultural crops, trees and forest products, livestock, poultry and other related commodities.

(b)

Sell home agricultural goods and farm products in accordance with the provisions of Part 3 of this chapter and establish farm stands as a conditional use in accordance with the provisions of § 296-151H.

(c)

Replenish soil nutrients, including, but not limited to, the spreading of manure and applying environmentally approved chemical and organic fertilizers.

(d)

Use federally approved products, in accordance with labeled instructions, as recommended by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for the control of pests, predators, varmints, and diseases affecting plants and livestock and for the control of weed infestation.

(e)

Clear woodlands using accepted techniques and install and maintain vegetative and terrain alterations and other physical facilities for water and soil conservation and surface water control in wetlands 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, except that any housing of laborers shall only be permitted in existing residential dwellings on the property and subject to all other standards set forth in this chapter and any other governmental regulations.

(h)

Construct and maintain fences for orderly control of livestock.

(i)

Transport large, slow-moving equipment over roads within the Township.

(2)

The use of farmland for a limited recreational use (noncommercial and non-income-producing), e.g., snowmobiling, shall be done only with the permission of the farm owner. Any expanded recreational use of the farmland which changes the underlying agricultural nature of the use shall be subject to the usual prior site plan review, variance application and all permits where otherwise required.

The foregoing uses, activities and rights when reasonable and necessary for farming, livestock or fowl production and when conducted in accordance with generally accepted agricultural practices may occur on holidays, Sundays and weekends by day or night and shall include the attendant or incidental noise, odors, dust and fumes associated with these practices.

It is determined that whatever nuisance may be caused to others by these uses and activities is more than offset by the benefits from farming to the neighborhood community and society in general by preservation of open space, the beauty of the countryside and clean air. The preservation and continuance of farming operations in Raritan Township and New Jersey is a source of agricultural products for this and future generations and saves a nonreplenishable resource, i.e., the land.

For the purpose of giving due notice of nearby farming uses to proposed new residential areas adjacent to unimproved land then being farmed or suitable therefor, the Planning Board shall require any applicant for an adjacent major or minor subdivision, as a condition of approval of such application, to include as a provision in each and every deed conveying all or any portion of the lands thereby subdivided, as well as on filed final subdivision maps, the following record notice to grantees of such present or future proximate farming uses, which 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 within described premises from which farm use may emanate noise, odors, dust, and fumes associated with agricultural practices permitted under the Raritan Township Right to Farm Ordinance."