GLASGOW, Ky. — As Barren County moves closer to adopting countywide zoning regulations, some residents have questioned what the changes could mean for local farmers.

Since You Asked, here’s what you should know.

Kentucky’s Right to Farm Act protects agricultural operations that follow normal and accepted practices from certain nuisance claims and local restrictions.

Joint City-County Planning and Zoning Director Kevin Myatt said those protections would continue even if Barren County adopts countywide zoning regulations.

“So, if you’re zoned residential, you’re still farming the same way that you’ve been farming for the last 250 years that this country has been around,” Myatt said.

The law identifies protected agricultural practices as including activities such as applying fertilizer, spraying approved pesticides or herbicides, planting, cultivating, mowing, harvesting, and constructing farm-related buildings or infrastructure.

Myatt said those protections cover routine activities that can sometimes create conflicts when agricultural areas become surrounded by other types of development, including pesticide application, mud washing onto neighboring property after fields are plowed, or odors associated with livestock.

Does five acres automatically override zoning?

Kentucky zoning law also recognizes agricultural use through what is commonly referred to as the “agricultural supremacy clause.”

Under KRS 100.111, “agricultural use” generally includes a tract of at least five contiguous acres used for agricultural purposes, including crops, livestock, timber, and other agricultural products.

However, the five-acre designation does not allow property owners to simply declare land agricultural after zoning regulations have already been adopted in order to avoid those regulations.

A 2019 opinion from the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office found that agricultural uses already in place before zoning regulations are adopted may be protected from certain zoning requirements.

However, property owners generally cannot begin a new agricultural use after zoning is established to avoid those regulations.

What could zoning regulate?

While farmers would retain protections for normal agricultural practices, Myatt said a future countywide land-use ordinance could still establish requirements for development and other land uses, such as minimum lot sizes.

Because Barren County does not yet have a land-use ordinance, it is unclear exactly how agricultural uses would be addressed. Myatt said a future county ordinance would likely draw from existing regulations in Glasgow, Cave City, and Park City.

Existing agricultural districts in those cities generally allow farming, farm-related structures, livestock operations, greenhouses, and other agricultural uses.

Those ordinances also vary in how they address future development, with requirements such as minimum lot sizes, setbacks, and additional review for certain higher-impact uses.

A committee has been tasked with guiding the development of the ordinance and will help determine the scope of any regulations. A public comment period will also give residents an opportunity to weigh in once a draft ordinance is released.

Could zoning change property taxes?

Myatt also addressed concerns about whether zoning classifications could affect property taxes.

He said the Property Valuation Administrator’s Office does not assess property based solely on its zoning designation. Instead, assessments are based on the property’s current use.

“They have a house zoned commercial, and people are just living there with no commercial uses transpiring there, you’re getting the residential tax rate in the PVA office,” Myatt said.