Life is Ruff!

Ruff Life Ranch aims to be a green oasis in the middle of urban sprawl.  Agricultural land in Florida has been under relentless development pressure for decades, a problem exacerbated by overly broad use restrictions imposed by local government's planning and zoning departments.   For agricultural land close in the path of development, it is often impossible to justify farming and ranching on AG land in the face of development value, and regulatory challenges imposed by towns and counties.  For our own project the IRC planning department handed us 7 pages of required changes, with preliminary construction estimates exceeding $850,000, just to open a small and minimally impactful business on our own land.  In 2025 our property taxes jumped 49% due to unfavorable treatment of small farms, held as an LLC, which do not get Homestead Exemptions.  Few people want to see agricultural land turned into more roofs and asphalt, but with limited alternative uses allowed and discriminatory property tax treatment many landowners best option is to sell their land to large home developers who have Planning and Zoning Committees in their pocket.  We are working to avoid that fate for our small farm; our mission is to create enough economic value, through allowable uses, to preserve this green space on the edge of town.  Our Tree Farm, Horse Barn and Pet Resort are all county approved uses (despite IRC  fighting us every step of the way). When you buy from us, you are supporting our mission and helping to preserve green spaces and low impact agricultural land uses.