Editing Corporate farming (section)

== North America ==

In Canada, 17.4 percent of farms are owned by family corporations and 2.4 percent by non-family corporations.<ref>Statistics Canada. 2011 Census of Agriculture.</ref>  In Canada (as in some other jurisdictions) conversion of a sole proprietorship family farm to a family corporation can have tax planning benefits,<ref>BDO Canada LLP.  2014.  Tax bulletin.  Incorporating your farm business. http://www.bdo.ca/en/Library/Services/Tax/Documents/Tax-Bulletins/Incorporating-Your-Farm-Business.PDF {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150330081547/http://bdo.ca/en/Library/Services/Tax/Documents/Tax-Bulletins/Incorporating-Your-Farm-Business.PDF |date=2015-03-30 }}</ref> and in some cases, the difference in combined provincial and federal taxation rates is substantial.<ref>Alberta Agriculture.  To incorporate or not to incorporate?  http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/beef11403/$FILE/to_incorporate_or_not_to_incorporate.pdf</ref>  Also, for farm families with significant off-farm income, incorporating the farm can provide some shelter from high personal income tax rates.<ref>FBC.  2006.  Off-farm income is reason to incorporate the farm. http://fbc.ca/knowledge-centre/farm-income-reason-incorporate-farm</ref>   Another important consideration can be some protection of the corporate shareholders from liability.<ref>Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.  2010.  Farm corporations.  Agdex 812; order 10-031.</ref>  Incorporating a family farm can also be useful as a succession tool,<ref>BDO Canada LLP.  2014.  Tax bulletin.  Succession planning for the transition of the family farm. http://www.bdo.ca/en/Library/Services/Tax/Documents/Tax-Bulletins/Succession-Planning-for-the-Transition-of-the-Family-Farm.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401030140/http://bdo.ca/en/Library/Services/Tax/Documents/Tax-Bulletins/Succession-Planning-for-the-Transition-of-the-Family-Farm.pdf |date=2015-04-01 }}</ref>  among other reasons because it can maintain a family farm as a viable operation where subdivision of the farm into smaller operations among heirs might result in farm sizes too small to be viable.<ref>Farm incorporation has advantages and disadvantages.  http://www.hth-accountants.ca/Files1/Articles/Article_files/WP2001-10-11/WP2001-10-11.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171202075056/http://www.hth-accountants.ca/Files1/Articles/Article_files/WP2001-10-11/WP2001-10-11.htm |date=2017-12-02 }}</ref>

The 2012 US Census of Agriculture indicates that 5.06 percent of US farms are corporate farms.  These include family corporations (4.51 percent) and non-family corporations (0.55 percent).  Of the family farm corporations, 98 percent are small corporations, with 10 or fewer stockholders.  Of the non-family farm corporations, 90 percent are small corporations, with 10 or fewer stockholders.  Non-family corporate farms account for 1.36 percent of US farmland area.  Family farms (including family corporate farms) account for 96.7 percent of US farms and 89 percent of US farmland area;<ref name=USCensusAg2012>United States Department of Agriculture.  2014.  2012 Census of agriculture.  United States summary and state data.  Volume 1.  Geographic area series.  Part 51  AC-12-A-51.</ref> a USDA study estimated that family farms accounted for 85 percent of US gross farm income in 2011.<ref>Hoppe, R.A. 2014. Structure and finances of U.S. farms: family farm report, 2014 edition. United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service EIB-132.</ref>  Other farmland in the US is accounted for by several other categories, including single proprietorships where the owner is not the farm operator, non-family partnerships, estates, trusts, cooperatives, collectives, institutional, research, experimental and American Indian Reservation farms.

In the US, the average size of a non-family corporate farm is 1078 acres, i.e. smaller than the average family corporate farm (1249 acres) and smaller than the average partnership farm (1131 acres).<ref name=USCensusAg2012/>

=== US farm laws ===
To date, nine US states have enacted laws that restrict or prohibit corporate farming.  The first of these laws were enacted in the 1930s by [[Kansas]] and [[North Dakota]] respectively.  In the 1970s, similar laws were passed in [[Iowa]], [[Minnesota]], [[Missouri]], [[South Dakota]] and [[Wisconsin]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url = http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.law.004|title = Anti–Corporate Farming Laws|access-date = 27 October 2014|website = Encyclopedia of the Great Plains}}</ref>  In 1982, after failure to pass an anti–corporate farming law, the citizens of [[Nebraska]] [[Initiatives and referendums in the United States|enacted by initiative]] a similar amendment into their state constitution.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.cfra.org/i300/resources|title = Initiative 300: Nebraska's Anti–Corporate Farming Law|access-date = 6 November 2014|website = Center for Rural Affairs|archive-date = 28 September 2020|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200928045611/https://www.cfra.org/i300/resources|url-status = dead}}</ref>  The citizens of South Dakota similarly amended their state constitution in 1998.<ref name=":4" />

All nine laws have similar content.  They all restrict corporate ability to own and operate on farmland.  They all outline exceptions for specific types of corporations. Generally, family farm corporations are exempted, although certain conditions may have to be fulfilled for such exemption (e.g. one or more of: shareholders within a specified degree of kinship owning a majority of voting stock, no shareholders other than natural persons, limited number of shareholders, at least one family member residing on the farm).<ref name=NALC2014/> However, the laws vary significantly in how they define a corporate farm, and in the specific restrictions.  Definitions of a farm can include any and all farm operations, or be dependent on the source of income, as in Iowa, where 60 percent of income must come from farm products.<ref name=":4" />  Additionally, these laws can target a corporation's use of the land, meaning that companies can own but not farm the land, or they may outright prohibit corporations from buying and owning farmland.<ref name=NALC2014>{{Cite web|url = http://nationalaglawcenter.org/overview/corporatefarminglaws/|title = Corporate Farming Laws|access-date = 6 November 2014|website = National Agricultural Law Center}}</ref>  The precise wording of these laws has significant impact on how corporations can participate in agriculture in these states with the ultimate goal of protecting and empowering the family farm.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://nationalaglawcenter.org/ag-law-bibliography/categories/11-corporate-farming-restrictions-on-corporate-farmingfamily-farm-preservation/|title = Corporate Farming (Restrictions on Corporate Farming/Family Farm Preservation)|access-date = 6 November 2014|website = National Agricultural Law Center}}</ref>