As used in this chapter, the following words
shall have the following meanings:
COMMERCIAL FARM
A.
A farm management unit of no less than five
acres producing agricultural or horticultural products worth $2,500
or more annually, and satisfying the eligibility criteria for differential
property taxation pursuant to the Farmland Assessment Act of 1964,
N.J.S.A. 54:4-23.1 et seq.; or
B.
A farm management unit less than five acres,
producing agricultural or horticultural products worth $50,000 or
more annually and otherwise satisfying the eligibility criteria for
differential property taxation pursuant to the Farmland Assessment
Act of 1964, N.J.S.A. 54:4-23.1 et seq.
FARM MANAGEMENT UNIT
A parcel or parcels of land, whether contiguous or noncontiguous,
together with agricultural or horticultural buildings, structures
and facilities, producing agricultural or horticultural products,
and operated as a single enterprise.
FARM MARKET
A facility used for the wholesale or retail marketing of
the agricultural output of a commercial farm, and products that contribute
to farm income, except that if a farm market is used for retail marketing,
at least 51% of the annual gross sales of the retail farm market shall
be generated from sales of agricultural output of the commercial farm,
or at least 51% of the sales area shall be devoted to the sale of
the agricultural output of the commercial farm, and except that if
a retail farm market is located on land less than five acres in area,
the land on which the farm market is located shall produce annually
agricultural or horticultural products worth at least $2,500.
PICK-YOUR-OWN OPERATION
A direct marketing alternative wherein retail or wholesale
customers are invited onto a commercial farm in order to harvest agricultural,
floricultural or horticultural products.
Commercial farm operators are strongly advised
to adhere to generally accepted agricultural management practices
that have been:
A. Promulgated as rules by the State Agriculture Development
Committee;
B. Recommended as site-specific agricultural management
practices by the County Agriculture Development Board;
C. Approved by the local Soil Conservation District in
the form of a farm conservation plan that is prepared in conformance
with the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS) Field Office Technical Guide (FOTG), revised
April 20, 1998, as amended and supplemented; or
D. Recommended by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment
Station.
The foregoing activities must be in conformance
with applicable federal and state law.
The foregoing practices and activities may occur
on holidays, weekdays and weekends by day or night and shall include
the attendant or incidental noise, odors, dust and fumes associated
with these practices.
It is hereby determined that whatever nuisance
may be caused to others by these foregoing uses and activities is
more than offset by the benefits of farming to the neighborhood community
and society in general.
Any person aggrieved by the operation of a commercial
farm shall file a complaint with the applicable County Agriculture
Development Board or the State Agriculture Development Committee in
counties where no county board exists prior to filing an action in
court.
An additional purpose of this chapter is to
promote a good neighbor policy by advising purchasers and users of
property adjacent to or near commercial farms of accepted activities
or practices associated with those neighboring farms. It is intended
that, through mandatory disclosures, purchasers and users will better
understand the impacts of living near agricultural operations and
be prepared to accept attendant conditions as the natural result of
living in or near land actively devoted to commercial agriculture
or in an agricultural development area, meaning an area identified
by a County Agriculture Development Board pursuant to the provisions
of N.J.S.A. 4:1C-18 and certified by the State Agriculture Development
Committee. The disclosure required by this section is set forth in
the form attached hereto as Appendix A.