Farm 4: The Game that Brings You Closer to Nature

Four Town Farm is located on 90 George Street in Seekonk, MA, a few miles east of Providence, RI. The season opens mid April with a large selection of perennials, annuals, hanging baskets, and mixed containers. The farmstand is open through the holidays, selling fresh cut trees and wreaths.

"Shellfish aquaculture" means the propagation, rearing, and subsequent harvesting of shellfish in controlled or selected environments, and the subsequent processing, packaging, and marketing of such shellfish, and includes activities to intervene in the rearing process to increase production such as stocking, feeding, transplanting, and providing for protection from predators. "Shellfish aquaculture management unit" means an area, contiguous or noncontiguous, together with buildings, structures, and facilities, on which shellfish aquaculture is occurring, and which is operated as a single enterprise. "Shellfish commercial farm" means a shellfish aquaculture management unit that engages in shellfish aquaculture and produces shellfish worth $40,000 or more annually. "Shellfish farm market" means a structure co-located with a shellfish post-harvest activities facility that is part of the shellfish aquaculture management unit used for the wholesale or retail marketing of the shellfish output of a shellfish commercial farm, and products that contribute to farm income, except that if a shellfish farm market is used for retail marketing at least 51 percent of the annual gross sales of the retail farm market shall be generated from sales of shellfish output of the shellfish commercial farm, or at least 51 percent of the sales area shall be devoted to the sale of shellfish output of the shellfish commercial farm. "Shellfish post-harvest activities" means the storage, processing, and packaging activities carried out at a shellfish aquaculture management unit. "Single enterprise" means a person, including a business entity, that coordinates operations and combines resources in pursuit of the same business purpose, as evidenced by items including, but not limited to: common owners, principals, managers, directors, shareholders, or employees; integrated business records, financial statements, and tax returns; shared business resources; centralized accounting processes; commingling of income or expenses; the sharing of profits, losses, or liabilities; or common bank accounts. L.1983, c.31, s.3; amended 1998, c.48, s.1; amended 2015, c.75, s.1; 2020, c.154, s.1; 2023, c.20, s.1. 4:1C-3.1 Certain beekeeping operations protected by "Right to Farm Act" 2. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 3 of P.L.1983, c.31 (C.4:1C-3), or any rules or regulations adopted pursuant thereto, to the contrary, a farm management unit that qualifies as a commercial farm for the purposes of the "Right to Farm Act," P.L.1983, c.31 (C.4:1C-1 et seq.), because it is a beekeeping operation producing honey or other agricultural or horticultural apiary-related products, or providing crop pollination services, worth $10,000 or more annually, shall be entitled to the protections provided to any other commercial farm under that act but not for agricultural or horticultural activities that are not apiary-related activities, unless the farm management unit also qualifies as a commercial farm pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1983, c.31 (C.4:1C-3) for reasons other than as a beekeeping operation as described in that section.

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L.2015, c.75, s.2. 4:1C-3.2 Shellfish aquaculture management unit, commercial farm, protections, entitled 3. a. A shellfish aquaculture management unit that qualifies as a shellfish commercial farm, pursuant to P.L.2023, c.20 (C.4:1C-3.2 et al.), shall be entitled to the protections set forth in section 4 of P.L.2023, c.20 (C.4:1C-10a), but not for agricultural or horticultural activities that are not related to shellfish aquaculture unless the shellfish aquaculture management unit also qualifies as a commercial farm pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1983, c.31 (C.4:1C-3) for reasons other than shellfish aquaculture. b. Notwithstanding the provisions of any municipal or county ordinance, resolution, or regulation to the contrary, the owner or operator of a shellfish commercial farm that is located in an area in which, as of December 31, 1997 or thereafter, agriculture is a permitted use under the municipal zoning ordinance and is consistent with the municipal master plan, or that is in operation as of the effective date of P.L.2023, c.20 (C.4:1C-3.2 et al.) and is located in an area zoned for commercial or industrial use, or that is located in the coastal area, as designated pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1973, c.185 (C.13:19-4), and is zoned for commercial or industrial use, or that is located on land under tidal waters that the shellfish commercial farm has the authority to use pursuant to a riparian grant or lease granted pursuant to R.S.12:3-2 et seq. or a lease granted pursuant to R.S.50:1-23 et seq., and that operates in conformance with agricultural management practices recommended by the committee and adopted pursuant to the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), or whose specific operation or practice has been determined by the appropriate county board, or by the committee in a county where no county board exists, to constitute a generally accepted agricultural operation or practice, and that operates in conformance with all relevant federal or State statutes or rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto and does not pose a direct threat to public health and safety shall be authorized to: (1) produce shellfish as described in the Standard Industrial Classification for shellfish farming or, after the operative date of the regulations adopted pursuant to section 5 of P.L.2003, c.157 (C.4:1C-9.1), as described in the corresponding classification under the North American Industry Classification System; (2) process and package the shellfish output of the shellfish commercial farm; (3) provide for the operation of a shellfish farm market, including the construction of a building and parking area in conformance with municipal standards; (4) control pests, predators, and diseases of shellfish; (5) conduct on-site disposal of organic waste on land included in the shellfish aquaculture management unit, excluding land currently flowed by tidal waters; (6) recycle shells on land included in the shellfish aquaculture management unit; (7) conduct agriculture-related educational and farm-based recreational activities, provided that the activities are related to marketing the shellfish output of the shellfish commercial farm; and (8) engage in any other agricultural activity as determined by the committee and adopted by rule or regulation pursuant to the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.). L.2023, c.20, s.3. 4:1C-4 State agriculture development committee; establishment; membership; terms; vacancies; meetings; minutes; staff. 4. a. In order that the State's regulatory action with respect to agricultural activities may be undertaken with a more complete understanding of the needs and difficulties of agriculture, there is established in the Executive Branch of the State Government a public body corporate and politic, with corporate succession, to be known as the State Agriculture Development Committee. For the purpose of complying with the provisions of Article V, Section IV, paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, the committee is allocated within the Department of Agriculture, but, notwithstanding that allocation, the committee shall be independent of any supervision or control by the State Board of Agriculture, by the department or by the secretary or any officer or employee thereof, except as otherwise expressly provided in this act. The committee shall constitute an instrumentality of the State, exercising public and essential governmental functions, and the exercise by the committee of the powers conferred by this or any other act shall be held to be an essential governmental function of the State.b. The committee shall consist of 11 members, five of whom shall be the Secretary of Agriculture, who shall serve as chairman, the Commissioner of Environmental Protection, the Commissioner of Community Affairs, the State Treasurer and the Dean of Cook College, Rutgers University, or their designees, who shall serve ex officio, and six citizens of the State, to be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, four of whom shall be actively engaged in farming, the majority of whom shall own a portion of the land that they farm, and two of whom shall represent the general public. With respect to the members actively engaged in farming, the State Board of Agriculture shall recommend to the Governor a list of potential candidates and their alternates to be considered for each appointment.c. (1) Of the six members first to be appointed, two shall be appointed for terms of two years, two for terms of three years and two for terms of four years. Thereafter, all appointments shall be made for terms of four years. Each of these members shall hold office for the term of the appointment and until a successor shall have been appointed and qualified. A member shall be eligible for reappointment for no more than two consecutive terms. Any vacancy in the membership occurring other than by expiration of term shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointment but for the unexpired term only. (2) When an appointed member actively engaged in farming notifies the chairman that the member is unable to attend a publicly noticed meeting, an alternate may be chosen to serve for that member at the meeting. The alternate member shall be chosen by the Governor, in consultation with the President and the Vice President of the State Board of Agriculture, with the advice and consent of the Senate. The alternate member shall be a past member of the State Board of Agriculture who served pursuant to R.S.4:1-4, provided, however, that in no case shall the alternate member have been removed from office pursuant to section 3 of P.L.1948, c.447 (C.4:1-4.1), or a past member of the State Agriculture Development Committee. (3) When an appointed member representing the general public notifies the chairman that the member is unable to attend a publicly noticed meeting, an alternate may be chosen to serve for that member at the meeting. The alternate member shall be chosen by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate.d. Members of the committee shall receive no compensation but the appointed members may, subject to the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available for these purposes, be reimbursed for expenses actually incurred in attending meetings of the committee and in performance of their duties as members thereof.e. The committee shall meet at the call of the chairman as soon as may be practicable following appointment of its members and shall establish procedures for the conduct of regular and special meetings, including procedures for the notification of departments of State regulating the activities of commercial agriculture, provided that all meetings are conducted in accordance with the provisions of the "Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act," P.L.1975, c.231 (C.10:4-6 et seq.).f. A true copy of the minutes of every meeting of the committee shall be prepared and forthwith delivered to the Governor. No action taken at such meeting by the committee shall have force or effect until 15 days, exclusive of Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, after such copy of the minutes shall have been so delivered. If, in said 15-day period, the Governor returns such copy of the minutes with a veto of any action taken by the committee at such meeting, such action shall be null and void and of no force and effect.g. The department shall provide any personnel that may be required as staff for the committee.