The fight over North Dakota’s ban on corporate farming continues in federal court despite a June referendum in support of the 1932 law. The North Dakota Farmers Union, which spearheaded the successful referendum, asked for permission to intervene in the lawsuit, said the Fargo Forum.
The North Dakota Farm Bureau, the smaller of the two major farm groups in the state, filed the lawsuit roughly two weeks before the statewide referendum. It says the ban discourages investment in the livestock industry. In the June 14 vote, North Dakotans, by a 3-to-1 margin, overturned a 2015 law to allow out-of-state corporations to own hog and dairy farms of up to one square mile.
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, defending the corporate farming ban on behalf of the state, asked the court to dismiss the Farm Bureau suit on Tuesday. If the federal judge grants the Farmers Union motion, the group will be able to participate in the case. “Farmers Union led the fight that created our corporate farming law back in the ’30s and we’ve defended it repeatedly ever since,” said NDFU president Mark Watne.