Per agweb, the North Dakota Farm Bureau filed a lawsuit last week seeking to have the state’s longstanding anti-corporate farming law declared unconstitutional. The filing comes less than two weeks before state residents vote on upholding exemptions to the law for hog and dairy operations.

According to the lawsuit, current law (established in 1932) restricts farmers from using business tools they need, devalues their operations and discriminates against non-residents. Current plaintiffs include a Wisconsin dairy farmer and dairy company.

Per the Daily Journal, the lawsuit alleges North Dakota law “interferes with the flow of interstate commerce by prohibiting any and all corporations organized under the laws of all other states from investing in North Dakota farming operations or from owning or leasing North Dakota farmland.”

According to the Bismarck Tribune, nine states have corporate farming laws and many have some exemptions. North Dakota Farm Bureau President Daryl Lies told the paper that the state’s farmers need the ability to craft a corporate structure identical to other businesses in the state.

Last year, the North Dakota Legislature let non-family corporations own hog and dairy operations to help those industries grow. The North Dakota Farmers Union, which supports the anti-corporate farming law, recently petitioned changes to the June 14 primary election ballot and residents will vote on whether to uphold those exemptions.