Tennessee Right to Farm Act — Agricultural Nuisance Protection (TN)
Tracked preemption from the Tennessee overlay bundle.
Overview
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Effective
1982-04-29
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:TN
Other Tennessee preemptions
Tennessee State Building Code — 2021 I-Codes via State Fire Marshal SBCOTennessee Voluntary Attainable Housing Incentive Programs — IZ Ban Carve-OutTennessee Short Term Rental Unit Act — Statewide STR GrandfatheringTennessee §6-54-127 — Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning & Rent Control BanTennessee Heritage Protection Act — Memorials on Public PropertyTennessee Agricultural District and Farmland Preservation ActTennessee Industrial Development Board TIF — Economic Impact Plan DistrictsTennessee NPDES Stormwater & Riparian Buffer — Construction & MS4 Permits
Trigger predicate
When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.
OR
parcel.adjacent_to_active_farm_operation==Trueproject.use_type==residential_subdivision_adjacent_to_farmland
Preempted fields
3 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.
| Field | Op | Value | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
nuisance_law.farm_operation_presumption | override | rebuttable_presumption_not_a_nuisance | §43-26-103: a farm or farm operation is presumed NOT to be a public or private nuisance; presumption overcome only by preponderance showing non-conformance with generally accepted ag practices OR violation of an applicable statute/rule |
nuisance_law.coming_to_the_nuisance_doctrine | override | abrogated_no_time_in_operation_requirement | TN RTFA has no temporal threshold — new farms after surrounding residential development still receive the presumption, abrogating common-law 'coming to the nuisance' defense |
local_ordinance.ag_operation_regulation | cap_at | non_nuisance_health_safety_only | Local nuisance ordinances cannot be applied to override the §43-26-103 presumption; only true health-safety regulations survive |
Citation
Authority source
Tenn. Code Ann. §§43-26-101 through 43-26-104 (Tennessee Right to Farm Act); 2018 amendment expanded definition of protected agricultural operations (hemp, aquaculture, agritourism)
§ §§43-26-101 et seq.; §43-26-103
Research notes
Material to residential underwriting on the urban-rural fringe — homebuyer nuisance suits (odor, noise, dust, hours of operation, agritourism event traffic) against neighboring farms have very low odds of success. Distinct from TN_43_34_AGRICULTURAL_DISTRICTS (designated district program with eminent-domain protection) and TN_67_5_GREENBELT_ROLLBACK (use-value tax assessment). Pairs with TCA §13-7-201(b)(2) county-zoning agricultural exemption (county zoning cannot regulate bona fide farms). 2018 amendment broadened 'farm operation' to include hemp, aquaculture, ag-related processing, agritourism. Practical effect: subdivision plats adjacent to active farms should include rural-character disclosure language; some lenders require it.