Our Stance on Bills Impacting the Dairy Industry in ND Legislation

There is quite a few very hot topics in the current ND Legislature right now, and a few of them have huge impacts to the Dairy Industry, specifically Bill 2351 and Bill 1027.  Many people have asked, emailed, and called me asking what our dairy farm's stance is on the bills and most specifically the "Corporate Farms" Bill 2351 that will go before the House this Thursday (it already passed in the Senate recently).  Ironically both Bills will go before the House and Senate this Thursday and my husband, father-in-law, and myself will testify in Support of both Bills at both hearings (Bill 1027 addresses rewriting ND Milk Marketing Board Law).  But the big question seems to revolve around Bill 2351.  With my and my family's involvement in the ND Dairy Coalition, ND Milk Producers, ND Ag Coalition and many others, these groups have decided to Support the Bill 2351 being allowed in ND.  There are many, many reasons as to why but it basically boils down to the fact that the Dairy and Hog Industries in ND are on a very, very scary rapid decline and so these groups a few years ago started doing research and looking at what surrounding states did to combat their declining numbers.  One thing that the research has pointed at specifically is that in SD, they changed their law to allow "Corporate" Farming in their state.  Is this a coincidence or did it really help fix the problem?

So here is our statement and how we stand on the ND Bill 2351:

"Currently, we have many types of business structures to use in the Dairy Industry and we personally look at the Corporate Legislation as an "option" or another "tool" to use for financial structure of a livestock facility.

Currently the United States has 47,000 dairy farms, 97% of them are family-owned and obviously many types of business models are used (LLP, General Partnerships, and many are even Incorporated). There is extensive amount of opportunity for growth of the dairy and hog industry in North Dakota, and we feel that the State of ND should do those things which allow that to happen for those within our state and for others that have been interested in relocating to North Dakota. Our State's Department of Agriculture has had many interested family-farms in the past interested in relocating or establishing a new livestock operation in North Dakota, but unfortunately, one of the factors that has blocked some from coming is that they have their current farms as a "corporate structure" or wanting to become "incorporated".  A change in the law of ND would allow those interested dairy farms to relocate to our state, but would hinder from acquiring huge tracts of land (640 acres or less) and taking opportunities away from our existing farmers. A new livestock facility in our state would create many new economic advantages to the area where they would locate! The need for feed from the farm's neighbors can be a new marketing option for the farmers, and also the manure from the livestock facility is an excellent soil nutrient. There is also huge economic impact for the farm's needs for local supplies, businesses, and services that would be brought to the surrounding areas as well.  The growth of the livestock numbers would greatly strengthen our agriculture industry as a whole, and would  be a real advantage to our existing producers.  

For our family personally, as I said before, we view this as another option for us especially on when it comes to the business terminology and also taxes. Currently we are in the process of transitioning the dairy farm from my husbands parents to us, and this could be an new option for us. It also could be used for future expansion of our farm and allowing for our neighbors to buy shares in the farm and to supply feed to us if we would become "incorporated"."

So, do I agree with huge corporations coming into ND, buying up huge portions of land, and hurting local farmers, obviously NO!  But that seems to be the stigma that is surrounding this bill is that we are in support of that.  So lets get this straight, what we are in support of is allowing FAMILY OWNED farms being able to change their business structures to "Incorporated" to allow non-family members (such as neighbors, cousins, business associates) to come together and form a business, which right now the law prohibits.   I know a lot of farms that would like to be able to be 'Incorporated' instead of 'Partnerships' because there is a huge difference in the business structures, the amount of liabilities, the taxes, and many other business factors that would positively effect current ND producers.