North Dakota feeds the world and that story needs to be told. Governor Doug Burgum made that point during his final State of the State Address. Before the recent change in the law, Burgum said North Dakota had the most outdated corporate farming law in the country and it killed the animal agriculture business. “We’re still doing sheep research at NDSU and we were down to almost no sheep herds in the state; we were doing dairy research at NDSU and we have less than 12,000 dairy cattle in our state.” Changes were made to the corporate farming law during the last legislative session. As a result, several large dairies are looking at land in the Wahpeton area. Burgum said North Dakota still has the strongest protection for family farmers in the nation. “Corporations can’t own land here, foreign corporations can’t own land here and if you and I wanted to start a farm here and you’re not related to me, second cousin or closer, we couldn’t start a farm together.” Burgum also touted the development of the soybean crush business in the state and launched the new Office of Community Development and Rural Prosperity.
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.