Title: Rural Zoning Not as Important as Rural Planning
Headings: Fear of Rural Zoning Shouldn't Prevent Planning
Fear of Rural Zoning Shouldn't Prevent Planning
Rural Locations Can and Should Plan, Even If They Reject Rural Zoning
Rural Zoning to Preserve Agriculture
How Zoning Could Contribute to Better Quality Rural Development
The Floating Zone: A Recommendation for Communities That Want Businesses Other Than Agriculture
The Community Dialogue to Determine What to Be When Urbanization Is Nearby
Summary of Zoning and Planning for Rural Areas
Also Relevant to Rural Communities

Content: Perhaps you could allow the seed salesman to display a tiny sign this way. You can say that the only additional uses allowed are farm owner or laborer housing, the "accessory uses" to farm housing (garages, sheds, and so forth), and agricultural buildings. You  also could require that houses in adjacent zones be set back from the agricultural property line by a particular instance. This might prevent  some of the suburban-rural conflict, such as the common "roosters are making noise at 4:00 in the morning" complaint. How Zoning Could Contribute to Better Quality Rural Development
Now let's turn to the second reason listed above that you might want rural zoning after all. You want to prevent poor quality development if and when a large-scale business or development wants to locate in your area. You might like to use zoning simply to give a minimalist framework for good quality rural community development. For example, would you like to set up a minimum lot size, a minimum  setback from agricultural uses, a maximum building size, a maximum number of employees, a maximum amount of parking or percentage of the total lot that is parking? To be honest, most communities don't have the nerve to set up in advance the terms for rural economic development, or urban economic development either, if you're keeping track. But  if you do so, you are in a much stronger position when Mega Farm Supply  comes along, people are so excited because they bring much-needed jobs and desirable shopping, and then you are in a weak position to negotiate about the details of the proposal.