Nebraska prohibits corporate farming in its constitution:
XII-8.
Corporation acquiring an interest in real estate used for farming or
ranching or engaging in farming or ranching; restrictions; Secretary of
State, Attorney General; duties; Legislature; powers.
That Article XII of the Constitution of the
State of Nebraska be amended by adding a new section numbered 8 and
subsections as numbered, notwithstanding any other provisions of this
Constitution.
Sec. 8(1) No corporation or syndicate shall
acquire, or otherwise obtain an interest, whether legal, beneficial, or
otherwise, in any title to real estate used for farming or ranching in
this state, or engage in farming or ranching.
Corporation shall mean any corporation organized
under the laws of any state of the United States or any country or any
partnership of which such corporation is a partner.
Farming or ranching shall mean (i) the
cultivation of land for the production of agricultural crops, fruit, or
other horticultural products, or (ii) the ownership, keeping or feeding
of animals for the production of livestock or livestock products.
Syndicate shall mean any limited partnership
organized under the laws of any state of the United States or any
country, other than limited partnerships in which the partners are
members of a family, or a trust created for the benefit of a member of
that family, related to one another within the fourth degree of kindred
according to the rules of civil law, or their spouses, at least one of
whom is a person residing on or actively engaged in the day to day labor
and management of the farm or ranch, and none of whom are nonresident
aliens. This shall not include general partnerships.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(A) A family farm or ranch corporation. Family
farm or ranch corporation shall mean a corporation engaged in farming or
ranching or the ownership of agricultural land, in which the majority
of the voting stock is held by members of a family, or a trust created
for the benefit of a member of that family, related to one another
within the fourth degree of kindred according to the rules of civil law,
or their spouses, at least one of whom is a person residing on or
actively engaged in the day to day labor and management of the farm or
ranch and none of whose stockholders are non-resident aliens and none of
whose stockholders are corporations or partnerships, unless all of the
stockholders or partners of such entities are persons related within the
fourth degree of kindred to the majority of stockholders in the family
farm corporation.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(B) Non-profit corporations.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(C) Nebraska Indian tribal corporations.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(D) Agricultural land, which, as of the
effective date of this Act, is being farmed or ranched, or which is
owned or leased, or in which there is a legal or beneficial interest in
title directly or indirectly owned, acquired, or obtained by a
corporation or syndicate, so long as such land or other interest in
title shall be held in continuous ownership or under continuous lease by
the same such corporation or syndicate, and including such additional
ownership or leasehold as is reasonably necessary to meet the
requirements of pollution control regulations. For the purposes of this
exemption, land purchased on a contract signed as of the effective date
of this amendment, shall be considered as owned on the effective date of
this amendment.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(E) A farm or ranch operated for research or
experimental purposes, if any commercial sales from such farm or ranch
are only incidental to the research or experimental objectives of the
corporation or syndicate.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(F) Agricultural land operated by a corporation for the purpose of raising poultry.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(G) Land leased by alfalfa processors for the production of alfalfa.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(H) Agricultural land operated for the purpose of growing seed, nursery plants, or sod.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(I) Mineral rights on agricultural land.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(J) Agricultural land acquired or leased by a
corporation or syndicate for immediate or potential use for nonfarming
or nonranching purposes. A corporation or syndicate may hold such
agricultural land in such acreage as may be necessary to its nonfarm or
nonranch business operation, but pending the development of such
agricultural land for nonfarm or nonranch purposes, not to exceed a
period of five years, such land may not be used for farming or ranching
except under lease to a family farm or ranch corporation or a
non-syndicate and non-corporate farm or ranch.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(K) Agricultural lands or livestock acquired by a
corporation or syndicate by process of law in the collection of debts,
or by any procedures for the enforcement of a lien, encumbrance, or
claim thereon, whether created by mortgage or otherwise. Any lands so
acquired shall be disposed of within a period of five years and shall
not be used for farming or ranching prior to being disposed of, except
under a lease to a family farm or ranch corporation or a non-syndicate
and non-corporate farm or ranch.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(L) A bona fide encumbrance taken for purposes of security.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(M) Custom spraying, fertilizing, or harvesting.
These restrictions shall not apply to:
(N) Livestock futures contracts, livestock purchased for slaughter, or livestock purchased and resold within two weeks.
If a family farm corporation, which has
qualified under all the requirements of a family farm or ranch
corporation, ceases to meet the defined criteria, it shall have fifty
years, if the ownership of the majority of the stock of such corporation
continues to be held by persons related to one another within the
fourth degree of kindred or their spouses, and their landholdings are
not increased, to either re-qualify as a family farm corporation or
dissolve and return to personal ownership.
The Secretary of State shall monitor corporate
and syndicate agricultural land purchases and corporate and syndicate
farming and ranching operations, and notify the Attorney General of any
possible violations. If the Attorney General has reason to believe that a
corporation or syndicate is violating this amendment, he or she shall
commence an action in district court to enjoin any pending illegal land
purchase, or livestock operation, or to force divestiture of land held
in violation of this amendment. The court shall order any land held in
violation of this amendment to be divested within two years. If land so
ordered by the court has not been divested within two years, the court
shall declare the land escheated to the State of Nebraska.
If the Secretary of State or Attorney General
fails to perform his or her duties as directed by this amendment,
Nebraska citizens and entities shall have standing in district court to
seek enforcement.
The Nebraska Legislature may enact, by general
law, further restrictions prohibiting certain agricultural operations
that the legislature deems contrary to the intent of this section.
North Dakota prohibits corporate farming by statute:
10-06.1-02. Farming or ranching by corporations and limited liability companies prohibited.
All
corporations and limited liability companies, except as otherwise
provided in this chapter, are prohibited from owning or leasing land
used for farming or ranching and from engaging in the business of
farming or ranching. A corporation or a limited liability company may be
a partner in a partnership that is in the business of farming or
ranching only if that corporation or limited liability company complies
with this chapter.
10-06.1-3. Retention of mineral interests prohibited.
For
land and minerals acquired after July 1, 1985, any corporation
or limited liability company that acquires mineral interests
through foreclosure or in lieu of foreclosure which were not
specifically valued at the time the security interest in the minerals
was acquired, and which prohibited from owning or leasing land used in
farming or ranching, is prohibited from retaining mineral interests in
land used for farming or ranching when the corporation or limited
liability company divests itself of the land, and the mineral interests
must be passed with the surface estate of the land when the corporation
or limited liability company divests itself of the land under this
chapter.
South Dakota also prohibits its statutorily:
47-9A-1.
Agriculture prohibited as corporate or limited liability company purpose.
The
Legislature of the State of South Dakota recognizes the importance of the family farm to the
economic and moral stability of the state, and the Legislature recognizes that the existence of the
family farm is threatened by conglomerates in farming. Therefore, it is hereby declared to be the
public policy of this state, and shall be the provision of this chapter, that, notwithstanding the
provisions of § 47-1A-301, no foreign or domestic corporation, except as provided herein, shall be
formed or licensed under the South Dakota Business Corporation Act for the purpose of owning,
leasing, holding or otherwise controlling agricultural land to be used in the business of agriculture.
It is further declared that no foreign or domestic limited liability company, except as provided
herein, shall be formed or licensed under the South Dakota Limited Liability Company Act for the
purpose of owning, leasing, holding or otherwise controlling agricultural land to be used in the
business of agriculture.
So does Kansas:
17-5904. Restrictions; exceptions; penalties.
(a) No corporation, trust, limited liability company, limited
partnership or corporate partnership, other than a family farm
corporation, authorized farm corporation, limited liability agricultural
company, family farm limited liability agricultural company, limited
agricultural partnership, family trust, authorized trust or testamentary
trust shall, either directly or indirectly, own, acquire or otherwise
obtain or lease any agricultural land in this state. The restrictions
provided in this section do not apply to the following:
(1) A bona fide encumbrance taken for purposes of security.
(2) Agricultural land when acquired as a gift, either by grant or devise, by a bona fide educational, religious or charitable nonprofit corporation.
(3)
Agricultural land acquired by a corporation or a limited liability
company in such acreage as is necessary for the operation of a
nonfarming business. Such land may not be used for farming except under
lease to one or more natural persons, a family farm corporation,
authorized farm corporation, family trust, authorized trust or
testamentary trust. The corporation shall not engage, either directly or
indirectly, in the farming operation and shall not receive any
financial benefit, other than rent, from the farming operation.
(4)
Agricultural land acquired by a corporation or a limited liability
company by process of law in the collection of debts, or pursuant to a
contract for deed executed prior to the effective date of this act, or
by any procedure for the enforcement of a lien or claim thereon, whether
created by mortgage or otherwise, if such corporation divests itself of
any such agricultural land within 10 years after such process of law,
contract or procedure, except that provisions of K.S.A. 9-1102, and
amendments thereto, shall apply to any bank which acquires agricultural
land.
(5) A municipal corporation.
(6)
Agricultural land which is acquired by a trust company or bank in a
fiduciary capacity or as a trustee for a nonprofit corporation.
(7)
Agricultural land owned or leased or held under a lease purchase
agreement as described in K.S.A. 12-1741, and amendments thereto, by a
corporation, corporate partnership, limited corporate partnership or
trust on the effective date of this act if: (A) Any such entity owned or
leased such agricultural land prior to July 1, 1965, provided such
entity shall not own or lease any greater acreage of agricultural land
than it owned or leased prior to the effective date of this act unless
it is in compliance with the provisions of this act; (B) any such entity
was in compliance with the provisions of K.S.A. 17-5901, prior to its
repeal by this act, provided such entity shall not own or lease any
greater acreage of agricultural land than it owned or leased prior to
the effective date of this act unless it is in compliance with the
provisions of this act, and absence of evidence in the records of the
county where such land is located of a judicial determination that such
entity violated the provisions of K.S.A. 17-5901, prior to its repeal
shall constitute proof that the provisions of this act do not apply to
such agricultural land, and that such entity was in compliance with the
provisions of K.S.A. 17-5901, prior to its repeal; or (C) any such
entity was not in compliance with the provisions of K.S.A. 17-5901,
prior to its repeal by this act, but is in compliance with the
provisions of this act by July 1, 1991.
(8)
Agricultural land held or leased by a corporation or a limited liability
company for use as a feedlot, a poultry confinement facility or rabbit
confinement facility.
(9) Agricultural land
held or leased by a corporation for the purpose of the production of
timber, forest products, nursery products or sod.
(10) Agricultural land used for bona fide educational research or scientific or experimental farming.
(11)
Agricultural land used for the commercial production and conditioning
of seed for sale or resale as seed or for the growing of alfalfa by an
alfalfa processing entity if such land is located within 30 miles of
such entity's plant site.
(12) Agricultural
land owned or leased by a corporate partnership or limited corporate
partnership in which the partners associated therein are either natural
persons, family farm corporations, authorized farm corporations, limited
liability agricultural companies, family trusts, authorized trusts or
testamentary trusts.
(13) Any corporation,
either domestic or foreign, or any limited liability company, organized
for coal mining purposes which engages in farming on any tract of land
owned by it which has been strip mined for coal.
(14) Agricultural land owned or leased by a limited partnership prior to the effective date of this act.
(15)
Except as provided by K.S.A. 17-5908, as it existed before the
effective date of this act, and K.S.A. 1998 Supp. 17-5909, agricultural
land held or leased by a corporation or a limited liability company for
use as a swine production facility in any county which, before the
effective date of this act, has voted favorably pursuant to K.S.A.
17-5908, as it existed before the effective date of this act, either by
county resolution or by the electorate.
(16)
Agricultural land held or leased by a corporation, trust, limited
liability company, limited partnership or corporate partnership for use
as a swine production facility in any county where the voters, after the
effective date of this act, have voted pursuant to K.S.A. 17-5908, and
amendments thereto, to allow establishment of swine production
facilities within the county.
(17) Agricultural
land held or leased by a corporation, trust, limited liability company,
limited partnership or corporate partnership for use as a dairy
production facility in any county which has voted favorably pursuant to
K.S.A. 17-5907, and amendments thereto, either by county resolution or
by the electorate.
(18) Agricultural land held or leased by a corporation or a limited liability company used in a hydroponics setting.
(b)
Production contracts entered into by a corporation, trust, limited
liability company, limited partnership or corporate partnership and a
person engaged in farming for the production of agricultural products
shall not be construed to mean the ownership, acquisition, obtainment or
lease, either directly or indirectly, of any agricultural land in this
state.
(c) Any corporation, trust, limited
liability company, limited partnership or corporate partnership, other
than a family farm corporation, authorized farm corporation, limited
liability agricultural company, family farm limited liability
agricultural company, limited agricultural partnership, family trust,
authorized trust or testamentary trust, violating the provisions of this
section shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $50,000
and shall divest itself of any land acquired in violation of this
section within one year after judgment is entered in the action. The
district courts of this state may prevent and restrain violations of
this section through the issuance of an injunction. The attorney general
or district or county attorney shall institute suits on behalf of the
state to enforce the provisions of this section.
(d)
Civil penalties sued for and recovered by the attorney general shall be
paid into the state general fund. Civil penalties sued for and
recovered by the county attorney or district attorney shall be paid into
the general fund of the county where the proceedings were instigated.
Food for thought for Wyoming?
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