011-10 Wyo. Code R. §§ 10-3 - Definitions

For the purposes of these rules, the definitions set forth in W.S. Title 39, as amended, are incorporated by reference. In addition, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) "Agricultural" means the primary use of the land is to produce crops, harvest timber or graze livestock for commercial purposes consistent with the land's capability to produce including land used for a farmstead structure that supports the land's capability to produce.

(b) "Platted Subdivision" means for the purpose of Chapter 13 of Title 39, the creation of a lot, parcel, or other unit of land; or division of a lot, parcel, or other unit of land into one or more parts that has received approval from the governing body in whose jurisdiction the property resides at the time of creation and is recorded in the records of the county clerk.

(c) "Non-agricultural lands" shall include lands whose primary purpose consists of uses other than those defined as agricultural in Title 39 and these rules. Appraisal of such lands shall be conducted in accordance with Department of Revenue Chapter 9 rules:

(i) Lands in active transition from agricultural use to residential, commercial or industrial use, which includes creation or division of a tract, parcel or other unit of land for the purpose of sale or development for such use;

(ii) Home site with lands occupied by structures which are built for or used for human habitation or attached to said structures. The home site shall consist of one acre per habitable structure unless verifiable information is provided by the Assessor or land owner to justify the site being listed as more than or less than one acre of land used in direct connection with the home site;

(A) In addition to land occupied by structures, typical amenities to a home site include, but are not limited to, the area for well and septic, landscaped area, driveway, patios, decks, gazebos and other land that is not used to support the agricultural purpose stated in W.S. 39-13-101(a)(viii)(A) through (C).

(iii) Commercial land used for commercial feed lots, dude ranch facilities, and other commercial or income purposes;

(iv) Land where Topsoil is removed or topography is disturbed to the extent that the property cannot be used to raise crops, timber or to graze livestock unless land is used for a farmstead structure as defined by W.S. 39-13-101(a)(x)(A) through (D);

(v) Resort or recreational lands, summer homes or mountain cabins;

(vi) Land zoned for purposes, which exclude agricultural uses;

(vii) Activities on land which occur after the crop is harvested or animal has been raised do not qualify land for agricultural assessment. A storage activity by a non-producer does not qualify property for agricultural assessment. Processing activities, whether or not by a producer, such as pasteurizing and bottling milk, cheese making, honey candy manufacturing or slaughtering, dressing and packing meat do not qualify land for agricultural assessment;

(A) In general, processing begins with those activities typically carried out at the first level of trade beyond production, which activities enhance the value of primary agricultural products. Milling grain, pasteurizing milk, packaging vegetables and milling timber constitute processing. Packaging products for transport to either the wholesale or retail markets does not constitute processing, but packaging them for sale does. The test is whether the packaging used for transport is suitable packaging for retail sale. Storage within the wholesale trade constitutes processing, as would slaughter of livestock. The producer's interim storage or slaughter prior to sale to a wholesaler or other middleman is not processing.

(B) For silage, while the final product is different from the product as initially stored, the process shall still be considered a primary production activity.

(viii) Land grazed by any animal kept as a hobby;

(ix) Land used to harvest firewood, shrubs or seeds that grow wild on the land;

(x) Land used for the activity of hunting or harvesting game animals or birds.

(d) "Primarily" means chiefly or the first importance.

(e) "FSA" is an acronym for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency.

(f) "AUM" is an acronym for animal unit month, the amount of forage required to maintain a 1,000 lb cow, with or without a calf, for one month.

(g) "CAB" is an acronym for crop acreage base. CAB is applicable to any crop eligible to be enrolled in a FSA government support program.

(h) "Capitalization rate" is a ratio between anticipated future income, either accounting income or cash flow, and present value. For property tax purposes the Department will use the following:

(i) The capitalization rate used in valuation of the agricultural lands is the 5 year weighted average of the annual Farm Credit Bank's average long term loan portfolio rates (obtained from Farm Credit). The average interest rates for the past 5 years are converted to a weighted average to establish the capitalization rate. This is calculated by multiplying the current year's interest rate by a factor of 5. The previous years' rates are multiplied by factors of 4, 3, 2 and 1 respectively. This total is divided by 15 to achieve the 5 year weighted average. This capitalization rate is used in the income approach for the valuation of all agricultural lands (irrigated crop land, dry crop land, rangeland, timberland or other).

(i) "CRP" is an acronym for Conservation Reserve Program. CRP is a federal program which pays a yearly rental payment in exchange for farmers removing environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and planting species that will improve environmental quality.

(j) "Dry Crop Land" means any land which is cultivated and harvested by mechanical means, and is used in the production of cereal grains and row crops, alfalfa, legumes or grass hay, including sub-irrigated hay meadows, or Christmas, ornamental and nursery trees without the artificial application of water.

(k) "Irrigated Crop Land" means any land, which has water applied to it by artificial means for the purpose of producing food or fiber, or Christmas, ornamental and nursery trees. The value of irrigation and sprinkler systems, used in applying water to agricultural lands, is included in the productivity formula and should not be valued separately.

(l) "Land Capability Classification System" for taxation purposes, applies to the productivity valuation of cropland. Soils placed in the Land Capability Classification System are governed by a series of limitations. Major limitations include, but are not limited to, length of growing season (frost-free growing period), precipitation, texture, salinity, alkalinity, stoniness, drainage, permeability, and slop of the soil.

(m) "Rangeland" means any land, which is used for livestock production, and cannot or has not been cultivated, by mechanical means. Wasteland and inaccessible land shall also be included in this category. The presence of trees is not considered a detriment to production and the land shall be valued as rangeland under the premise that the presence of trees is a management choice of crop or mix of crops. If the forestland is neither grazed nor produces timber products, it is not qualified as agricultural land.

(n) "Range Site", according to the NRCS, is "an area of rangeland where climate, soil and relief are sufficiently uniform to produce a distinct natural plant community."

(o) "Rangeland Grouping". Roughly 40 different range sites in Wyoming have been consolidated into five rangeland groupings. These rangeland groupings are a mix of range sites that have similar animal unit month (AUM) production. The rangeland groupings are categorized by the Department as R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4 & R-5. The R-1 grouping is the most productive in any LRA and the R-5 grouping is the least productive.

(p) "NRCS" is an acronym for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service.

(q) "Soil" means a natural three-dimensional body at the earth's surface. It is capable of supporting plants and has properties resulting from living matter acting on earthly parent material as conditioned by relief over periods of time. Soil classes, as applied herein, are in accordance with the Department Mapping and Agricultural Manual.

(r) "Sub-irrigated hay meadows" means lands mechanically harvested that receives water from springs or other natural sources.

(s) "Summer fallow" means the tillage of un-cropped land during the summer to control weeds and allow storage of moisture for the growth of a later crop.

(t) "USDA" is an acronym for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

(u) "Waste land" means land, which has minimum economic value owing to inaccessibility, boggy conditions, sparseness of forage growth, or ditches, roads, and submerged lands, which contribute, to poor grazing conditions for livestock. It is less productive than Rangeland Class R-5.

(v) The "Mapping and Agricultural Manual" produced by the Department is the official standard for mapping and agricultural land productivity specifications and valuations for property tax purposes in accordance with W.S. 39-13-103(b)(x)(B)(IV).

(w) "LRA" is an acronym for Land Resource Area. Land resource areas are groupings of croplands and rangelands with similar productivity levels. Both crop and rangeland have five (5) LRA groupings each. The national weather service and the NRCS have compiled climatic and productivity data. From their original documentation, the Department has grouped the related areas into five (5) LRA's to be used for cropland valuation and five (5) LRA's to be used to be used for rangeland valuation. Crop land LRA's are groupings of land areas that receive similar amounts of precipitation, have a similar length of growing season and share a similar general topography. Rangeland LRA's are groupings of land areas that receive similar amounts of precipitation, share a similar general topography and have similar productivity levels (measured in AUM's per acre). Precipitation amounts are averages from long-term climatic studies and estimate normal conditions.

(x) "Affirming affidavit" means a sworn affidavit affirming that the land meets the requirements of agricultural land definition. The affidavit is found in these Rules.

(y) "Agricultural operation" shall mean a business in the primary pursuit of activities that attempt to produce agricultural products by the application of management, capital and labor consistent with accepted agricultural practices.

(z) "Agricultural products" include the grazing of livestock, growing of crops or forage under cultivated conditions, or the management and harvest of timber products, for commercial purposes.

(aa) "Intervening cause of production failure" means any cause outside of the control of the producer that prevents or significantly impacts the growing of crops, timber products or the grazing of livestock.

(bb) "Bona fide conservation plan" means governmentally approved programs or written recommendations or plans implemented for the conservation of agricultural land or soil. This includes lands enrolled in the CRP. The land must have been classified as agricultural land prior to entering any program. Conservation programs that are designed to conserve and protect wetlands and wildlife habitat are not for the purpose of conserving agricultural land and soil. As such, conservation programs that are designed to conserve and protect wetlands and wildlife habitat do not qualify or disqualify the land from the agricultural classification; all other factors must be considered pursuant to these rules.

(cc) "WRP" is an acronym for Wetlands Reserve Program, a voluntary program providing technical and financial support to landowners to protect, enhance, and restore their wetland property.

(dd) "Income derived from the marketing of agricultural products" means sales of livestock or crops. Income from an agricultural lease by itself will not qualify land as agricultural unless the land is used by the lessee and he can provide proof of annual gross revenues of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) from the marketing of agricultural products.

Notes

011-10 Wyo. Code R. §§ 10-3

Amended, Eff. 8/24/2017.