Long time DRC member Link Reinhiller wrote a letter to our legislators in the House asking them to vote no on weakening the anti-corporate farming law.
Dear Representative,
I am a retired rancher and have been a member of Dakota Resource Council for 30 years. DRC is a community-based group that brings together farmers, ranchers, small business people, workers and others around the state to work on natural resources, energy, and agriculture issues.
We do not support SB 2351 because weakening the anti-corporate farming law does not provide a solution to strengthening agriculture in North Dakota. The reason for the decline in the number of dairy and swine producers has been because the price of their product has not been meeting the cost of production. Why would a corporation want to invest in a dairy or swine business if it is not making any money? How would a corporate structure change that?
A corporate structure takes control of agriculture out of the hands of producers. Nonfamily controlled corporate farms do not have the connection to the land and community that family owned farms do. The corporate control of agriculture production reduces competition. We have seen this in other states in the chicken and hog industries.
How would this change to the anti-corporate farming law affect the future? Corporate control of agriculture operations leads to corporate ownership of everything involved in production. This is in place in the hog and chicken industries across the U.S. and has been for years. After the chicken and hog corporatization, the next step will be increased corporate control of the beef industry.
On behalf of my farmer and rancher neighbors and friends, I ask that you vote no on SB 2351.
Sincerely,
Link Reinhiller