Farm and ranch land can be taxed on what it produces, not what it sells for

Texas allows farmland to be taxed based on what it can produce — crops, livestock, hay — rather than what a developer might pay for it. This is called a special agricultural appraisal, sometimes called an ag exemption. It can cut the tax bill dramatically on rural parcels.

The catch: if you stop farming the land and convert it to another use, you owe a rollback tax covering up to three past years. That rollback is the difference between the ag tax paid and what market-value tax would have been. Apply through DCAD and check their agricultural information page for what qualifies.