Morning Fresh Farms, Inc. v. Weld County Bd. of Equalization

• Decision Date: 22 March 1990
• Docket Number: No. 89CA0457,89CA0457
• Citation: 794 P.2d 1073
• Parties: MORNING FRESH FARMS, INC., Petitioner-Appellant, v. WELD COUNTY BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, Weld County Assessor, and Colorado Board of Assessment Appeals, Respondents-Appellees. . II
• Court: Colorado Court of Appeals

Page 1073

794 P.2d 1073

MORNING FRESH FARMS, INC., Petitioner-Appellant, v. WELD COUNTY BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, Weld County Assessor, and Colorado Board of Assessment Appeals, Respondents-Appellees.

No. 89CA0457.

Colorado Court of Appeals Div. II.

March 22, 1990.

Rehearing Denied April 19, 1990.

Certiorari Denied July 23, 1990.

Stientjes and Shaddock, Harlan C. Stientjes, Greeley, for petitioner-appellant.

Duane Woodard, Atty. Gen., Charles B. Howe, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Richard H. Forman, Sol. Gen., Larry Williams, First Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for respondents-appellees Colorado Bd. of Assessment Appeals.

Thomas O. David, Co. Atty., Jan Rundus, Asst. Co. Atty., Greeley, for respondent-appellee Weld County Bd. of Equalization and Weld County Assessor.

Opinion by Justice HODGES ^*.

Plaintiff, Morning Fresh Farms, Inc., appeals the order of the Board of Assessment Appeals (BAA) denying plaintiff's request for exemption of personal property used on its farm. We reverse.

The facts in this case are undisputed. Plaintiff owns an 800-acre farm on which corn, wheat, and alfalfa are grown on all but approximately 40 acres. On those 40 acres, plaintiff has 25 buildings housing approximately 750,000 laying hens and the equipment necessary to gather, convey, wash, candle, weigh, sort, package, and refrigerate the eggs (egg handling equipment). A small percentage of the chicken feed is produced on this farm. Plaintiff purchases day-old chicks to replace laying hens, and the replaced laying hens and chicken manure are sold. The laying hens and the chicks are kept in structures and never touch the ground.

Plaintiff applied for a personal property tax exemption for the egg handling equipment, and for the items used in cleaning the chicken houses, and vaccinating the chickens. The BAA denied plaintiff's request for an exemption. It determined that plaintiff's "egg production, raising replacement laying hens, and the sale of fertilizer...." did not fall within the definition of a farm set out in § 39-1-102(3.5), C.R.S. (1989 Cum.Supp.). The BAA concluded that: "[T]his operation is entirely separate from the [plaintiff's] farming operation: both the production of eggs and replacement laying hens are totally self contained. Neither the pullets nor laying hens ever touch the ground...."

Plaintiff contends that the BAA erred in its conclusion that the portion of plaintiff's farm devoted to the production of eggs does not meet the definition of a farm under § 39-1-102(3.5). We agree.

Section 39-1-102(3.5) defines a farm as:

"a parcel of land which is used to produce agricultural products that originate from the land's productivity for the primary purpose of obtaining a monetary profit."

Plaintiff's chicken operation meets the statutory definition of a farm. The acreage is a "parcel of land" and is used to produce "agricultural products" as defined under § 39-1-102(1.1), C.R.S. (1989 Cum.Supp.). Under § 39-1-102(1.1), agricultural and livestock products are defined as "plant or animal products in a raw or unprocessed state which are derived from the science and art of agriculture. 'Agriculture', for the purposes of this subsection...