(815) 776-0335
330 North Bench Street , Galena, IL 61036
Farmland Assessments
General Farmland Guidelines:
- No minimum acreage requirements
- Acreage must be actively farmed for a minimum of 2 years:
- A Tract of land used solely for the growing and harvesting of crops
- For feeding, breeding and management of livestock or poultry, swine, sheep, beef cattle, ponies or horses, fur farming, bees, fish & wildlife farming (must be more than 1 or 2 animals)
- For dairying or for any other agricultural or horticultural use of combination thereof.
- Only the acreage used for farming will be assessed as farmland
- In order to have a farmland classification on the entire property, 51% of the property must be actively farmed.
- Additional information regarding the guidelines is available from the Illinois Department of Revenue in the Illinois real Property Appraisal Manual, pages 95-97.
Beekeeper Guidelines:
- Register your bee hives
Jo Daviess County Assessment Office requires your bee operation/hives to be registered through the Illinois Department of Agriculture. Information on registration may be found here:
-
- Specifically IL Bees & Apiaries Rules
- Beekeeper Registration Form
- A yearly renewal registration is required (with the State) in November per Section 60.20 - Registration; Colony Identification – C (link provided above)
- It is the responsibility of the property owner(s) to submit a copy of the renewed registration yearly to the County Assessment Office; failure to provide this could result in your preferential farm assessment being removed and your property re-classed to residential.
- Other Documents or Requirements
- MUST provide income tax documents from the sale of honey or other honey products (schedule F), should be submitted and
- It is recommended that a “pollinator” garden is planted on the property, or near the property. (½ mile to 3 miles from hives).
- How many bee hives per acre do I need to pollinate a crop?
- Jo Daviess County Assessment Office requires 2-3 hive huts per acre.
- Average bee hive densities (hives per acre) recommended for crops grown in the USA range from 1-7. Most crops that benefit from honey bees require 2-3.
- Recommended numbers have inched upwards in recent years because of a drop in wild honey bee densities.
- All General Farmland Guidelines listed above apply as well.
Other Available Programs (Preferential Assessments)
CONSERVATION EASEMENT
217.785.8284 or 217.785.8774
- Filed with the IDNR (Illinois Department of Natural Resources)
- A PTAX-337-R must be completed; this form will be returned to you by IDNR
- Easement property is valued at 8 1/3% of market value
- Once your Conservation Easement is recorded, the recorded document and a copy of the approved PTAX-337-R (with Part 3 & Part 4 completed) MUST be submitted to the Jo Daviess County Assessment Office – THIS IS THE OWNER'S RESPONSIBILITY.
- Reference INSTRUCTIONS on page 2 of the PTAX-337-R Application. This form available at www.jodaviesscountyil.gov/assessmentforms under General Forms
CONSERVATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAM (CSP)
217.785.8284 or 217.785.8774
FILED with the IDNR (Illinois Department of Natural Resources)
Valued at 5% of market value, must have 5 or more contiguous acres
Effective the following January 1 after approval
CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM (CRP)
Jo Daviess Farm Service Agency
815-858-3418
- Once a program is approved, it is the owner's responsibility to deliver a copy of the paperwork to the Jo Daviess County Assessment Office to go into effect.
FORESTRY MANAGEMENT PLANS
Paul Bane (Mississippi Palisades SP)
815.273.2768
- Program design through a Forester
- Forester sends application to IDOR, IDOR sends approval to County
- Valued as 1/6 of the value of cropland
- Must have 10 or more contiguous acres
- Effective the following January 1 after approval
