Section 20. Previous and current use, and exceptions

A. Previous use. The real estate sought to be qualified must have been devoted, for at least five consecutive years previous, to the production for sale of plants or animals, or to the production for sale of plant or animal products useful to man, or devoted to another qualifying use including, but not limited to:

1. Aquaculture

2. Forage crops

3. Commercial sod and seed

4. Grains and feed crops

5. Tobacco, cotton, and peanuts

6. Dairy animals and dairy products

7. Poultry and poultry products

8. Livestock, including beef cattle, sheep, swine, horses, ponies, mules, or goats, including the breeding and grazing of any or all such animals

9. Bees and apiary products

10. Commercial game animals or birds

11. Trees or timber products of such quantity and so spaced as to constitute a forest area meeting standards prescribed by the State Forester, if less than 20 acres, and produced incidental to other farm operations

12. Fruits and nuts

13. Vegetables

14. Nursery products and floral products.

If a tract of real estate is converted from nonproduction to agricultural or horticultural production, the tract may qualify without a five-year history of agricultural or horticultural use only if the change expands or replaces production enterprises existing on other tracts of real estate owned by the applicant.

B. Current use. The real estate sought to be qualified must currently be devoted to the production for sale of plants or animals, or to the production for sale of plant or animal products useful to man, or devoted to another qualifying use including, but not limited to, the items in subsection A of this section; except that no real estate devoted to the production of trees or timber products may qualify unless:

1. The real estate is less than 20 acres.

2. The real estate meets the technical standards prescribed by the State Forester, and

3. The real estate is producing tree or timber products incidental to other farm operations.

C. Exceptions.

1. Conversions by farm operator -- nonqualifying real estate. If a tract of real estate is converted from other uses or nonproduction to agricultural or horticultural production, the tract may qualify without the five-year history of agricultural or horticultural use when the change expands or replaces production enterprises existing on other tracts of real estate owned by the applicant, regardless of location.

2. Conversions by farm operator -- qualifying real estate. If a tract of real estate is converted from a qualifying use (forestry or open space) to agricultural or horticultural production, the tract may qualify without the five year history of agricultural or horticultural use.

3. Government action. If a tract of real estate which has previously qualified for agricultural use taxation is not devoted to agricultural or horticultural production because of governmental actions, the tract or portions shall be considered productive for that period of time.

4. Crops that require more than two years. The tract of real estate may qualify without the five-year history of agricultural or horticultural use if the tract of real estate is devoted to the production of any agricultural or horticultural crop that requires more than two years from initial planting until commercially feasible harvesting, and the locality in which the tract of real estate is located has waived with respect to such real estate the five-year-history-of-agricultural-or-horticultural-use requirement.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR115-01-02 § 1, eff. November 23, 1988; amended, Volume 22, Issue 11, eff. March 10, 2006.

Statutory Authority

§ 58.1-3230 of the Code of Virginia and Chapter 705 of the 2001 Acts of Assembly.