Guidelines for Beekeeping
Beekeeping is an agricultural use and shall qualify for agricultural use productivity valuation if used for pollination or for the production of human food or other tangible products having a commercial value. (Sec. 23.51 (2) Tax Code).
Acreage Requirement: The State of Texas has set a minimum of 5 acres and a maximum of 20 acres to qualify beekeeping as an agriculture use.
When property owners initially qualify for agricultural appraisal they must show proof of history for agricultural use or beekeeping for any five of the proceeding seven years. One way to do this is to ask for export, import or intra-state permits, which are required by the Texas Apiary Inspection Service to transport hives.
Our degree of intensity standard Is set at a minimum of 5 acres with a minimum of 6 hives. The minimum degree of intensity was established using Section 131.001 Texas Agriculture Codes definition of an apiary, which is a place where six or more colonies of bees or nuclei of bees are kept. A colony Is the hive and Its equipment and appurtenances including bees, comb, honey, pollen and brood.
For each additional 2.5 acres one additional hive is required. If additional acreage is less than 2.5 acres, no additional hive is required. For example, if a property owner has 14.6 acres of land used for beekeeping, nine hives would be needed to qualify. For 19 acres, 11 hives would be required.
First 5 Acres
6 hives
First 5 acres
6 hives
Additional 7.5 acres
3 hives
Additional 12.5 acres
5 hives
Remaining 2.1 acres
0 hives
Remaining 1.5 acres
0 hives
Total hives required
9 hives
Total hives required
11 hives
Land must be used for bee pollination or production over 50% of the year.
The hives must be maintained and kept alive.
Flowering plants must be planted to support hives if the hives are in areas where there is limited vegetation that requires pollination.
