Michael Jackson’s 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch received nearly $70,000-a-year tax benefit meant for farmland. Then officials found an amusement park, a zoo and more

Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch was famous for its amusement-park rides, zoo, movie theater and fantastical attractions. But there was another, much less glamorous side to the sprawling California estate: cattle ranching.

That agricultural activity became important for an unexpected reason. It helped parts of Neverland Ranch qualify for California’s Williamson Act, a state program designed to encourage landowners to preserve agricultural land by offering them reduced property-tax assessments.