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Local beekeeper urges commissioners to protect agricultural valuation for beekeeping
Summary
A longtime hobbyist and commercial beekeeper told the court he relies on ag-valuation leases for apiaries and asked the commissioners to use their influence to discourage appraisal-district changes that could end the practice.
Chris Barnes, a Brazos County beekeeper who runs roughly 60 colonies across the county, told the commissioners that a 2011 change to the Texas tax code allowing beekeeping to qualify for open-space agricultural valuation has encouraged the spread of apiaries and helped manage bee pests and disease.
Barnes said the 2011 amendment, effective Jan. 1, 2012, allows beekeeping to qualify for agricultural valuation on tracts generally in the 5-to-20-acre range. He described a business model in which beekeepers lease hive…
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