Corporate Farming Laws
Overview
Several states have statutes or constitutional provisions that restrict the power of certain corporations to engage in farming or agriculture, or to acquire, purchase, or otherwise obtain land that is used or usable for agricultural production. Such legal provisions are commonly referred to as corporate farming laws, or anti-corporate farming laws. Most corporate farming laws are enacted as statutes rather than constitutional amendments. Nine states have laws that prohibit or limit corporate farming: South Dakota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas.
Read the full overview
Note: Recently added resources are posted at the top of the applicable sections.
State Laws
States' Right-To-Farm Statutes
North Dakota, N.D. Cent. Code §§ 10-06.1-01 through 10-06.1-27
Nebraska, Neb. Const. Art. XII, § 8
Kansas, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 17-5904
Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. § 182.001
Minnesota, Minn. Stat. § 500.24
Iowa, Iowa Code §§ 202B.101 through 202B.402
Missouri Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 350.015 through 316.015
South Dakota, S.D. Codified Laws §§ 47-9A-1 through 47-9A-23
Oklahoma, Const. Art. XXII, § 2
Oklahoma, Okla. Stat. tit. 18, § 951
Case Law
Case Law Index for Corporate Farming Laws
Center Research Publications
States' Right-To-Farm Statutes (Springsteen, 2009)
Forms and Filing Information: Business Organizations (Rumley, 2009)
Market Concentration, Horizontal Consolidation, and Vertical Integration in the Hog and Cattle
Industries: Taking Stock of the Road Ahead (Pittman, 2005)
The Constitutionality of Corporate Farming Laws in the Eighth Circuit (Pittman, 2004)
Part I: An Overview of Organizational and Ownership Options Available to Agricultural Enterprises
(Goforth, 2002)
Agricultural Law Bibliography
Introduction | Keyword Search | Browse Categories
Legal publications on Corporate Farming Laws :
Corporate Farming (Restrictions on Corporate Farming/Family Farm Preservation)
Organizational Forms for Agriculture (Business Law and Development)
Reference Resources
Economic Research Service (ERS)
Briefing Room: Farm Structure
Briefing Room: Farm Household Economics and Well-Being
Publication: The Transformation of U.S. Livestock Agriculture: Scale, Efficiency and Risks
(MacDonald, 2009)
Publications
Should Corporate Farming be Limited in the United States?: An Economic Perspective (Wittmaack, 2006)
Agricultural Industrialization, Anticorporate Farming Laws, and Rural Community Welfare
(Lyson and Welsh, 2004)
Is There a Future for Legislative Involvement in Shaping the Structure of Agriculture?
(McEowen, 2003)
Court Again Declares South Dakota's Anti-Corporate Farming Law Illegal (Guebert, 2003)
Testing the Impact of Corporate Farming Restrictions on the Nebraska Hog Industry
(Matthey and Royer, 2001)
Anti-Corporate Farming Laws as Environmental Policy (Thompson, 1997)
Reorganizing U.S. Agriculture The Rise of Industrial Agriculture and Direct Marketing
(Welsh, 1997)
Corporate Farming Laws: A Policy Dilemma for States (Royer, 1995)
Does I-300 Work? (NebraskaStudies.org)
Additional Resources
Corporate Farming Laws Posts (United States Agricultural & Food Law and Policy Blog)
Anti-Corporate Farming Laws in the Heartland (Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund)
Corporate Agribusiness Research Project (CARP)
Corporate Farming (Center for Rural Affairs)
The Hand that Feeds U.S. (Farm Policy Facts)
