In Texas, if you own between 5 and 20 acres of rural or residential land, you could be eligible for an AG exemption for having honeybees. For a fee, we will place hives on your property, maintain, and manage the colonies.
Having honey bee colonies managed on your land may qualify you (whether you own them yourself or someone else owns them and manages them for you) for a 1-d-1 Open Space special land valuation (commonly called “Ag Exemption“) under specific conditions, as listed under the Texas Tax Code Chapter 23, Subchapter D, Sect. 23.51 (1) and (2) as well as your County Appraisal District’s specific Land Valuation Rules (each local appraisal district can set their own standards and requirements for the beekeeping valuation within the context of the Texas Tax Code), because the Texas Constitution permits special agricultural appraisal if the land meets specific requirements defining farm and ranch use. This can be achieved by “using the land to raise or keep bees for pollination or for the production of human food or other tangible products having a commercial value.”
In effect, your land will be valued at a lower price because it is being used for agricultural related activities and the production of honey, propolis or wax.
Please note that in most counties you will need to have a minimum of 6 beehives on your property and you also need to have agricultural activities occurring on your land for 5 years before you can qualify for the exemption. Keep in mind that each county is different on hive requirements and years needed before applying for an AG. It is the land owners responsibility to know their county’s Ag Exemption requirements.
By the way: if you currently have an “Ag Exemption” on your land using, say, livestock; but do not want to continue to manage that livestock or would prefer an activity that has less impact on your land, then you may switch to having honey bee colonies managed on it instead and still keep your special land valuation.
Qualifying requirements include:
- The property must be suitable for honey bees and beekeeping
- Lindsey Bee Company will need unrestricted access to the bees
- A vehicle must be able to access the area where the hives are located and park no further than 20 yards from the hives location.
There is non-refundable $100 fee for an on-site consultation to confirm that land meets our qualifying requirements.
Management fee varies from property to property.
Lindsey bee Company retains the rights of ownership to the bees, the equipment, and the products of the hives.