North Dakota voters decided to keep an anti-corporate farming law. Dakota Resource Council member Jeri Lynn Bakken takes after the North Dakota Farm Bureau for filing suit against the law in this letter-to-the-editor in the Dickinson Press.
This past June, voters stood up for family farmers by rejecting changes to the 84-year old anti-corporate farming law in our great state. Seventy-five percent voted to continue the long held tradition to support families who work, live and support our state’s economy and reject corporate control of North Dakota’s land and resources.
North Dakota’s voters understand the way to build strong communities is to ensure family farmers live in the communities they serve and have a stake in the land they work. They also understand that strong communities build a strong state where the people working the land contribute to the economy and preserve the environment—They understood this in the midst of the great economic depression of the 1930’s and they understand it today.
However, the North Dakota Farm Bureau has taken a position against those long held values. They couldn’t win in the ballot box, so now they have turned to challenge the law in the courts. By suing North Dakota to overturn the anti-corporate farming law, ND Farm Bureau has made it obvious that they are not aligned with the values of 75 percent of North Dakotans.
North Dakota’s economy is strong and the backbone is agriculture. The hard working people of the state participate in their community, care for their land and contribute to the economy — AND VOTE IN OUR ELECTIONS.
The industrial model of agriculture does not produce more food, it simply producers fewer farmers. Is this Farm Bureau’s real agenda with the lawsuit against our state?
It’s not too late for ND Farm Bureau to do the right thing. They can and should withdraw this lawsuit. It is time for us to stand up for the values and the vote of our people and urge ND Farm Bureau to scrap this misdirected litigation.
Read more stories about agriculture and food here.