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Corporate farming bill pulled from legislatureLINCOLN, Neb. (AP)--An attempt to block corporate ownership of farms and ranches in the state fell flat in the Legislature on April 1, lessening chances that a voter-approved ban that stood for 25 years will be revived. The bill (LB1174) would have banned all nonfamily corporations, but not out-of-state interests, from farm ownership. The out-of-state allowance was a response to a federal appeals court decision in 2006 that threw out the ban. Referred to as Initiative 300 since it was approved in 1982, the ban was considered one of the strictest in the country. The court ruled that I-300 unfairly burdened out-of-state interests. Lawmakers voted down a key amendment to the measure on April 1. Then its main sponsor, Sen. Cap Dierks of Ewing, pulled the bill off the legislative docket. Dierks said he didn't know of a petition effort or any other push to bring back a ban on corporate farming. During debate on the issue, opponents said it would stymie agriculture by keeping farmers from forming corporate partnerships that could increase capital for their operations and shield individuals from liability. It makes no sense that those opportunities are available to other business ventures but not agriculture, said Sen. Ron Raikes of Lincoln. "These are not villainous characteristics. These are things we allow for businesses for very good reason. And to say they shouldn't apply to agriculture ... escapes me," he said. Others painted the measure as having more sentimental than practical value. They said it wouldn't limit operations such as those of agriculture giant Cargill or out-of-state individuals such as billionaire Ted Turner, the media mogul who has been criticized for buying huge chunks of ground, consequently driving land prices out of reach for some Nebraskans. To comply with the court decision, the measure wouldn't have kept out-of-state individuals or family corporations off Nebraska farmland. Only nonfamily corporations--both inside and outside of the state--would have been blocked. Up to five unrelated people would have been able to have a limited liability farming venture in the state. But family farm corporations in the state wouldn't have been able to combine forces and form new farming corporations. Outside interests can still own land and farm in Nebraska under the bill, said Sen. Philip Erdman of Bayard. "Anyone can come in as buy as much land as they want." The bill would actually discriminate against Nebraskans, he said, because enforcing a ban against out-of-state nonfamily corporations would be more difficult than monitoring whether Nebraska-based nonfamily corporations owned farms in the state. Dierks said he had been confident he had the 25 votes necessary to pass the bill, but four of those senators fell away. He and other supporters of the measure said Nebraska's status as a national leader in agriculture is evidence that the now-defunct ban worked. I-300 was designed to prevent the corporate takeover of family farms and was passed when farmers were struggling. The state exports more than $3 billion in ag products, is first in the nation in commercial red meat production, second in the country in both the number of cattle on feed and slaughtered, has the fourth highest number of acres in farms and ranches, and is near the top in the production of several crops. "I don't think this is the kind of stuff you'd hear if Initiative 300 was failing," said Dierks. "It has kept us in the lead." Supporters argued that the ban helped rural communities because it retained a strong base of family farmers who rely on towns much more than out-of-state, corporate interests. The decades-long decline of rural populations shows that the ban did not help, said Sen. John Wightman of Lexington. "I don't think that decline has lessened any since the passage of Initiative 300," Wightman said. Major farm and ranch organizations, including the Nebraska Farm Bureau, the Nebraska Cattlemen and the Nebraska Corn Growers, opposed Dierks' bill. 4/21/08 Date: 4/16/08 Advertisement
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