On Tuesday June 16, 2009, a district judge in North Dakota upheld a state law prohibiting corporations from owning and leasing farmland in the state. For Associated Press story, click here. The case involved a nonprofit foundation Crosslands, Inc. that
acquired 320 acres in Ward County in 1985, court records show. The organization subsequently bought 949 acres in Griggs County and 480 acres in Cavalier County, with the intent of managing the property as private wildlife preserves.The N.D.’s corporate farming law, N.D. Cent. Code §§ 10-06.1 - 10-06.1-27, allows for a review process for nonprofits to purchase agricultural land to preserve natural land and wildlife areas.
Acquisitions go through a review process that include the local county commission and a state review board. Any purchases must be approved by the governor.
Crosslands never went through the process. Southeast District Judge James Bekken upheld the law and rejected arguments that the law violated interstate commerce.
Bekken rejected those arguments, concluding the law has significant differences when compared to laws against corporate farming in South Dakota and Nebraska that have been declared unconstitutional by a federal appeals court. "The court agrees with the state's analysis that North Dakota's prohibition on corporate land ownership is essentially all-encompassing, not selective, and not discriminatory," Bekken wrote in his 35-page decision.”The ruling concluded that
Crosslands could keep its 320 Ward County acres and 528 of its 949 acres in Griggs County. The remaining 901 acres must be sold by Feb. 1, the judge's order says.
For a statement released by the North Dakota's Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, click here.
Posted: 06/24/09
