Legislative session 2025
Senate bill 1033 - “Right to farm”
1) The Right to Farm (RTF)
is not a silver bullet
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“Empty Fields, Empty Promises” University of North Carolina Press 2023
“Sole proprietor farmers – farmers who operate by their own name and personhood – are the least likely of any party type to win in RTF cases.”
They have less than a 50% chance protecting their right to farm and their property rights. Idaho’s Right to Farm, like other states, does not protect land from urban sprawl, nor does it protect property rights broadly.
2) Building residential lots in
agriculture is expensive for taxpayers
“We are doing everything we can to not put the farmer out of business.”
Let’s look at testimony from Mr. Zurski. A ditch rider’s challenges are very similar to a farmer’s challenges. The irrigation district charged $60 per acre in the mid-1990s and is now charging $130 per acre. Overtime went from 80 hours of overtime in the mid 1990s to 400-500 hours in the past few years. This is due to a long list of problems that the irrigation district and farmers encounter due to growth, especially with trespassing and complaints from residential customers.
We believe zoning ordinances for agriculture will help keep costs down for taxpayers.
3) The pressure on farmers is real
but rarely seen.
A farmer in Ada County called the sheriff as a developer had cut down some of his trees during construction. The deputy advised,
“Do you really want to go up against these guys? They have a lot of money.”
This is the culture that bad planning, through a lack of respect for agricultural zoning, creates. Trespassing, trash, anonymous letters on your doorstep, hostile land use hearings. Day after Day. No breaks. No timeouts.
Farmers are tough, but when the toughest can’t handle it, who’s going to be the leader in your food supply and protecting your rural culture?
Take a look at our Ask A Farmer series, where farmers express their concerns for their family farms and the safety of farming around residential lots in agricultural areas.
4) sugar coating the right to farm
in land use decisions.
The right to farm is used as a smokescreen in land use hearings to assure farmers and other residents that everyone in the neighborhood will honor these rights when residents move in.
These agreements rarely pan out.
Here is an example of a hearing in Ada County where a zoning change was requested and accepted by the county.
03:06:00 Attorney for development “We are happy to include the Right to Farm in the Platt notes and also ask for a right to farm acknowledgement…”
03:23:30 Dairy Farmer testifies
03:38:30 Questions from Commissioners RFT
03:43:32 and 03:47:10 Right to Farm acknowledgement is mainly educational.
SB1033 Summary
SB1033 You have before you a bill that is touted as added protections to Idaho’s Constitutional Right to Farm. However, through experience, we question if this will protect farmers and are concerned that it may be used as a smokescreen to advocate for spot zoning in agricultural areas. This bill intentionally does not reference or mention zoning ordinances to protect agriculture. It only references government and law enforcement agencies that have little experience or resources to deal with these problems, and it does not clarify who is going to keep a tally on complaints. Is this burden on the farmer? It should also be noted that many times a farmer receives these complaints anonymously. We are concerned that this may create ineffective government and will hand over problems caused by spot zoning, onto to farmers. We also want to make sure that SB1033 does not end up challenging the constitutionality of the Right to Farm itself by limiting a residential owner’s right to complain/sue as has occurred in the state of Iowa.*
Agriculture needs clear agricultural areas with zoning ordinances protecting agriculture from spot zoning and the legislature can require this. Farmers and growth interests have a right to be able to plan for their future by knowing their agricultural operations are safe and where residential lots are planned for growth. The citizens of Idaho have the right to live in harmony with their neighbors and not be set up for conflict by the systematic dismantling of LUPA. In Senator Lakey’s presentation he stated, “Growth is important”. We believe growth is important if it is built in the right place, otherwise it can be damaging and expensive to communities for generations to come. Here are the facts:
SB1033 may be a minor protection to the Right to Farm, but it will also be used in land hearings by growth interests to say farmers are protected when they are not. Only zoning ordinances can protect farmers. So, what does true farming rights look like? A state law* can require counties to create agricultural zones and zoning ordinances to protect them. Grow Idaho is neutral on SB1033 and hopes for better agricultural protections from our legislatures.
*Please note we reference Iowa’s 1998 decision finding the Right to Farm as unconstitutional and overturning this in 2022. We also reference Iowa’s RTF state law that “authorize counties to designate agricultural areas and create agricultural land preservation areas by passing ordinances to preserve land for agricultural use.” https://onerural.uky.edu/right-to-farm/IA