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N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Today, the North Dakota Farmers Union (NDFU) thanked voters for soundly rejecting Measure 1. Measure 1 would have allowed corporate farming in North Dakota.

“We always believed that the people of North Dakota would agree that the family farm structure is best for our state’s economy and our communities,” said Mark Watne, NDFU president. “The results tonight are a strong message that the people don’t want corporate farming in North Dakota.”

Last year, the North Dakota State Legislature passed SB 2351, which would have allowed corporate ownership of swine and dairy operations. NDFU collected more than 20,000 signatures to put the law to a vote of the people. Measure 1 was the result of that effort.

“From the minute this law passed, we saw tremendous grassroots support to overturn the law,” Watne said. “People were fired up, and they did not want this dangerous law to go into effect. The volunteer support and enthusiasm was remarkable.”

NDFU and North Dakotans for Family Farms ran the campaign to overturn the law. More than 90,000 calls were made and 5,000 doors were knocked on.

“We left no stone unturned to defeat Measure 1, because it was that important to us and to our state,” Watne said. “There is a reason that our volunteers made tens of thousands of calls in January alone. North Dakotans want to keep family farming strong in our state. And defeating Measure 1 was critical to that.”