BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - An attorney for North Dakota Farm Bureau says she doesn't think the potential intervention by North Dakota Farmers Union in a lawsuit over the state's anti-corporate farming law will have any effect on the outcome.
Claire Smith says "the issues and the law remain the same regardless of which parties are involved."
Farmers Union last week asked a federal judge for permission to help defend the law that aims to protect the state's family farming heritage but which Farm Bureau believes actually hurts farmers by limiting their business options.
If the judge agrees, it would enable Farmers Union to side with the state against Farm Bureau. The two organizations are the state's largest general farm groups, together representing about 72,000 farm families.