The North Dakota Farmers Union “has funded almost all the campaign” to retain a ban on corporate farming in the state, says The Associated Press.
The Farmers Union, with 40,000 members, raised more than $1.1 million ahead of the June 14 statewide referendum on allowing corporate ownership of hog and dairy farms. The state Farm Bureau says, “The people of North Dakota have nothing to fear from a corporate structure within the agricultural sector of our economy.”
In 2015, the legislature passed a law allowing corporations and limited liability companies to own or lease up to 640 acres — one square mile — for dairy or hog farming. The Farmers Union led a petition drive to refer the law to voters for a final decision. North Dakota is one of five states with laws against corporate farming.
Opponents say the new law is an invitation for big, out-of-state corporations to move into North Dakota, to the disadvantage of small farmers, according to the AP.
“Those who are pushing to keep our anti-corporate farming law are using bogeyman tactics to scare the general public,” said state Farm Bureau president Daryl Lies in the Grand Forks Herald. Iowa has a larger percentage of small farms than North Dakota although it allows corporate farms, Lies said.