Associated Press
01-27-07
Nebraska corporate farm ruling raises questions for other states
FARGO (AP) - Some lawyers believe North Dakota's 75-year-old ban on
corporate farming is on shaky ground now that a court ruling has overturned a
similar law in Nebraska, while other officials say North Dakota's law is not in
danger.
Last month, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a 1982 ban on
corporate farming in Nebraska is unconstitutional. North Dakota is among six
states in the 8th Circuit.
The appeals court said Nebraska's ban violates the federal commerce clause of
the U.S. Constitution and unfairly burdens out-of-state economic interests.
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to
review the 8th Circuit decision.
In North Dakota, "It's obvious the law wouldn't stand up" to a serious legal
challenge, said Lowell Bottrell, who practices agricultural law with a Fargo firm.
But the North Dakota attorney general's office, which enforces the state's anticorporate farming law, is confident the statute is on solid ground.
Chuck Hassebrook, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Rural Affairs in
Lyons, Neb., said he also thinks North Dakota's law would withstand a legal
challenge.
Roger McEowen, agricultural law professor with Iowa State University, said
there are substantial differences between the Nebraska and North Dakota laws,
including that the Nebraska law has residency requirements for farm operators
while North Dakota's does not.