Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview.nowadays,farming is big commerce. It's something North Dakota anticipated decades ago, which is why the Peace Garden State banned corporations from owning farmland or operating farms back in 1932. But final year, and the North Dakota state legislature introduced a new law to relax those restrictions and allow corporations to buy limited amounts of acreage in the dairy and swine sectors of farming. Lawmakers hoped that a removal of the ban would bolster an area of farming that is dwindling and to create more jobs. Citizens and the farmers' union pushed back,arguing that opening the door to big corporations would create a flood of big-agriculture commerce that would undercut farmers and diminish the value and tradition of family-owned farming. After protests, the people of North Dakota were able to defeat the state's law in a referendum held yesterday. Dave Thompson, or news director at Prairie Public Broadcasting,explains. Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear our full conversation.
Source: wnyc.org