Earlier this year, plaintiffs in North Dakota, including the North Dakota Farm Bureau, filed suit claiming the state’s ban on corporate farming hurts their agriculture industry and impacts interstate commerce by barring out-of-state corporations from owning farmland. Specifically, state law prohibits non-family farm corporations or LLCs from owning farmland or engaging in production agriculture.

During a primary election last June, North Dakota voters rejected plans to loosen the law’s restrictions on pork and dairy operations, according to Rueters.

In July, North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem asked a federal court to order the plaintiffs to submit a more detailed complaint in the lawsuit. Stenehjem, per the Associated Press, wanted the plaintiffs to “more specifically detail why they believe the law is unconstitutional.” A federal judge later rejected Stenehjem’s request and noted in his ruling that the lawsuit “is more than sufficiently clear” for the Attorney General to file a response. Plaintiffs’ attorney Sarah Herman responded via the AP and said, “The ruling is consistent with the applicable rules and case law and is the ruling we expected.” Stenehjem, in accepting the ruling, told the AP he “thought it would be more efficient to narrow the issues at this early stage rather than later.”

Today, on the heels of that ruling, the North Dakota Farmers Union, the state’s largest farmers organization, filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. If allowed to intervene, the group will be able to participate in the ongoing litigation. Union President Mark Watne told the Dickinson Press, “Farmers Union led the fight that created our corporate farming law back in the ’30s and we’ve defended it, repeatedly, ever since. As a result, we have a strong family farm and ranch culture that is the envy of other states and the backbone of our economy.” North Dakota’s Attorney General has requested the case be dismissed, according to the Dickinson Press.

Just last month, the North Dakota Farmers Union sent some of its members to participate in the National Farmers Union’s legislative fly-in to Washington, D.C. The event hoped to apprise Congress of a troubled farm economy.