At 01:19 PM 5/3/01 -0400, you wrote:


>Would that it were that simple.  I did not give all the details behind my
>question.
>The latest chapter in the saga of my neighbor who poisoned my bees is
>tonight when
>I am to appear at a Zoning Board of Appeals hearing.  My village does not
>have a
>local law banning beekeeping, and in fact, during the 8 years I sat on the
>Board of
>Trustees, the village passed a "Right to Farm Law" that explicitly includes
>apiculture as an encouraged activity!

I am not a lawyer, but here are my observations:

If that "Right to Farm" law covers the entire village, then what ~specific~
beekeeping-related activity in which you are engaging, or have engaged in,
falls outside of the definition of "Agriculture" according to the Zoning
Board?  If they have not specified something more general than
"beekeeping", then they need to provide that information to you so that you
have the opportunity to come into compliance with local zoning laws.  Since
beekeeping is, indeed, an agricultural activity, then I should think that
whether or not yours is a hobby or profession is completely irrelevant to
the issue.

If they have specified a particular activity as "commercial", such as
having a honey sales shop on your premises, then that is a separate issue
from the beekeeping activities, and should not impact your keeping of hives
on your property.

(All IMHO, of course!)

Good luck!

Sandy
(Who notices that the NYS Ag & Markets web site is a lot less user-friendly
than it used to be - couldn't find a thing on it re: honey production)