Posted March 19, 2015
House
lawmakers voted to relax North Dakota’s anti-corporate farming law, which could
set the precedent for non-family corporations to own dairy and swine operations
for the first time in 83 years, according to a Prairie Business article
available here.
Inforum also published the article here
and Grand Forks Herald here.
North
Dakota Farmers Union President Mark Watne condemned the vote and issued a
statement that accused legislators of “ignoring the majority of North Dakotans
who want farmland ownership and agricultural production to be in the hands of
families making a living off the land.”
Rep. Dennis
Johnson, R-Devils Lake, chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, stressed that
North Dakota is one of nine states with anti-corporate farming laws and the
only state without a livestock exemption.
Johnson
said the bill would encourage investment in the state’s struggling swine and
dairy industries while also benefiting grain farmers by providing fertilizer
and additional markets for their crops.
“We could
do nothing and watch them fade away. But I think we have an opportunity here to
try and help them.”
The House
voted 56-37 to approve amended Senate Bill 2351, after the Senate first passed
the bill 27-18 last month.
If the
Senate agrees to the House amendments, the bill will go to Gov. Jack Dalrymple
for his signature.
For more information on corporate farming laws, please visit
the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
