North Dakota State Senator Terry Wanzek who farms near Jamestown was disappointed voters turned down legislation passed this past session to allow corporate ownership of swine and dairy operations on up to 640 acres. Wanzek says he thinks voters were misled into believing the issue was corporate farms against family farms.

He says he was trying to find a reasonable solution to the problem by pushing forward the legislation while the two farm groups took an extreme approach.

Wanzek says the original legislation was introduced in an effort to save North Dakota’s shrinking dairy and pork industries by letting non family members form corporations and share in investments. He says the numbers of dairy and swine operations in the state continue to shrink.

Wanzek says he felt if the legislation threatened family farms he never would have supported it.