Agriculture, Rural Land & Working Lands
Texas landownership involves more than a residence-homestead exemption, the laws below reach livestock identification, conservation easements: agricultural loans and grants, local regulation of agricultural operations, foreign-ownership restrictions, business personal-property exemptions, water infrastructure, and public-road rights-of-way.
Farmers, ranchers: rural businesses, feed retailers, livestock owners, conservation participants, and the communities around them are all affected by a body of Texas law that runs well beyond the homestead exemption. The guides below explain what each 2025 law changed, who may be affected, what each law does not do, and which official Texas agency, form, program, or statute to consult next. For agricultural and open-space appraisal (the productivity valuation often called the “ag exemption”), see the property-tax resources in the Homestead Library; for the session-by-session legislative record, see the Legislative Archive and Bill Watchlist.
Livestock Marks & Brands in Texas
SB 503, county-clerk recording, and the statewide electronic registry the Texas Animal Health Commission is building, including the dates that are easy to confuse.
Texas Farm & Ranch Land Conservation Easements
How the voluntary state grant program works after HB 2018, and the questions to answer before binding land for 30 years or forever.
SB 17: Restrictions on Certain Foreign Acquisitions
A definition-driven law covering land, homes: water rights, minerals, and timber, with meaningful exceptions and still-proposed enforcement rules.
Texas Agricultural Loans & Grant Programs After HB 43
Wider TAFA eligibility, loans to $1 million, grants of $5,000 to $500,000, and the difference between what is authorized and what is open.
Texas Right-to-Farm Protections
SB 1035’s court remedy against unlawful local enforcement, and HB 4163’s bar on city-required road right-of-way maintenance.
Retail Animal-Feed Property-Tax Exemption
Proposition 5 passed and HB 1399 is in effect: how qualifying retail feed inventory becomes exempt, and who actually applies with Form 50-107.
Texas Water Fund & Water-Infrastructure Financing
Proposition 4’s sales-tax dedication, the no-less-than-50% new-supply allocation, and how communities actually apply through TWDB programs.