Posted on 05/30/2016 4:58:38 PM PDT by Olog-hai
North Dakota’s hog and dairy industries are hoping voters will bless state lawmakers’ decision to allow non-family corporations to own operations, but it could be a tough sell in a state that has safeguarded its family farming heritage for nearly a century.
Up for vote in the June 14 election is whether to uphold the 2015 Legislature’s move to loosen North Dakota’s corporate farming ban, which has tried to keep crop and pasture in the hands of small-operation farmers and away from large out-of-state businesses that some believe might have little regard for the land.
“Family farming agriculture has delivered in this state forever,” said Mark Watne, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union, which is leading the fight against the exemptions. “This would be a senseless change.” …
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This is a perfect example of something that is best left to the states.
Too many people confuse family and non-family corporate farms, lumping them together.
Families were often forced to incorporate because of the onerous inheritance taxes, which obligated heirs to sell the farms just to pay the taxes.
However, the more successful of these family corporations have grown as large as, or even larger than many business corporate farms, blurring the differences.
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