The development of the soybean crush industry in North Dakota opens the door to the expansion of the dairy, swine and poultry industries within the state. Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said North Dakota’s corporate farming law is the biggest hurdle to the expansion of animal agriculture in the state. The issue has been further complicated by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his recent purchase of 2,000 acres of North Dakota farm ground. People have gotten so many things mixed up, misconstrued, and it’s just been misrepresented,” said Goehring. “If you’re a US citizen, you can purchase land anyplace in the United States under the law. We tend to get distracted from the real issues and it will probably going to hurt the conversation.” Reporters from around the globe have reached out to Goehring every day for the last five weeks to discuss either the Bill Gates land purchase or the proposed Fufeng project in Grand Forks. These are two separate topics, but Goehring said media outlets have mistakenly put them together. “People get it confused and then it muddies the water and then it makes it difficult for anybody to want to come and do value-added.”
News Categories
Latest RRFN Podcasts
Subscribe to RRFN
Get a weekly digest from RRFN to stay up-to-date on all the latest news in agriculture.