5 acres with Grapefruit trees - deductions?

[Jared MontBlanc]

So I have the potential to purchase a property with 3 units on 5 acres, which includes a ton of fruit trees that are taken care of by outsourced farmers (small check to owner). Apparently the big thing is the tax benefits of owning the orchard, which he was able to deduct $400 per tree. My question here is that apparently he can only do this for 15yrs or so and his time has run out, so he's selling. Can I buy the property and get the same tax benefits even though the trees are now old? I tried to find this online but couldn't determine. Thanks Jared

[Chris Mason]

Originally posted by @Jared MontBlanc:

So I have the potential to purchase a property with 3 units on 5 acres, which includes a ton of fruit trees that are taken care of by outsourced farmers (small check to owner). Apparently the big thing is the tax benefits of owning the orchard, which he was able to deduct $400 per tree. My question here is that apparently he can only do this for 15yrs or so and his time has run out, so he's selling. Can I buy the property and get the same tax benefits even though the trees are now old? I tried to find this online but couldn't determine.
Thanks
Jared

 I can't help but wonder, are we depreciating the trees (like a building), or depleting them (like oil or other natural resources)? 

Trees have to be planted, the way a building is built, but then they have a finite number of total goodies you can get from them, like oil or other natural resources.