Beekeeping for an Agricultural Exemption in Collin County

What this actually is

It is not technically an exemption, though everyone calls it one. It is an agricultural productivity valuation, which means your land is appraised on what it produces rather than on what it would sell for. On land near a growing Collin County town, that difference can be substantial.

Beekeeping qualifies. Under Section 23.51 of the Texas Property Tax Code, land used for beekeeping for pollination or for producing human food or other tangible commercial products is an agricultural use. Texas sets the qualifying range at a minimum of five acres and a maximum of twenty.

How many hives Collin County requires

Each appraisal district sets its own degree of intensity standard, and Collin Central Appraisal District publishes theirs. The minimum is six colonies on the first five acres, then one additional hive for every further two and a half acres, up to twenty acres.

The six-hive floor comes from the Texas Agriculture Code, which defines an apiary as a place where six or more colonies or nuclei of bees are kept. Across the qualifying range that produces a requirement of six to twelve hives, or an average of about six hives for every ten acres.

Partial acreage below the two and a half acre step does not add a hive. The district's own worked example is sixteen point three acres, which needs ten hives: six for the first five acres, four for the next ten, and none for the remaining one point three.

Collin County minimum hive requirement by acreage. Source: Collin Central Appraisal District agricultural land qualification guidelines.

The requirement that catches people out

This is the part worth reading twice, because it is where most people are disappointed.

When land first qualifies, the owner has to show a history of agricultural use for five of the seven preceding years. Putting hives out this spring does not produce a valuation this year. It starts a clock.

If the land already has an established agricultural history under a different use, grazing or hay for instance, and you are switching that use to beekeeping, the position is usually much better. If you have just bought raw land with no agricultural history, plan on a multi-year path and talk to the appraisal district early.

Two other conditions matter. The hives must be maintained and kept alive, which is not a formality; a row of empty boxes is not an apiary. And the valuation applies to the total qualifying acreage, not merely the patch of ground the hives stand on.

What we do and what you do

We supply the hives, place them appropriately on your land, and manage them through the year: inspections, feeding when a season demands it, disease and pest monitoring, splitting colonies, replacing a queen when one fails, and harvesting. At the end of the honey season we split the honey with you.

You keep the land, the valuation and half the honey, and you never have to open a hive. If you want to learn, we are happy to teach you, but it is not part of the deal.

What you do is the paperwork. The application is form 1-d-1, Application for 1-d-1 Agricultural Use Appraisal, filed with Collin Central Appraisal District. The standard deadline is 30 April. We can tell you how many hives your acreage needs and confirm what is on your land, but we file nothing on your behalf.

An honest limit

We are beekeepers. We are not tax advisers, and nothing here is tax advice.

Appraisal districts apply their own judgement, rules change between years, and the specifics of your parcel and its history matter more than any general guidance. Everything on this page comes from Collin Central Appraisal District's published guidelines and the relevant sections of Texas code, and we have tried to represent it accurately, but confirm your own situation with the district or with your accountant before making a decision.

If your land is on the Denton County side of Celina or Prosper, note that Denton's appraisal district sets its own standard and the hive numbers may differ from the Collin figures above.