ND Supreme Court rules against nonprofit in corporate farming case, orders sale of 949 acres

Nonprofit must sell land in corporate farming case

A Minneapolis nonprofit that develops duck nesting grounds must sell a 949-acre tract in North Dakota because of state restrictions on corporate ownership of agricultural land, the North Dakota Supreme Court said in an opinion released Thursday.

The opinion overturns a June 2009 Southeast District Court ruling that allowed Crosslands Inc. to keep 527 acres of the tract bought by the nonprofit bought in November 2003. The property is about eight miles north of Cooperstown in east-central North Dakota.

The high court said most of the tract is used as farm or ranch land, so Crosslands must sell all of it. It has a year to do so.

A message was left Thursday evening for Crosslands’ attorney Nicholas Vogel.

State law allows nonprofit corporations to buy farm or ranch land for conservation purposes only if the governor approves the sale.

Crosslands, which was founded by Minneapolis gold and silver dealer James Cook, did not seek the governor’s endorsement before the sale was completed. Gov. John Hoeven refused a request to approve the deal retroactively, and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem sued Crosslands, attempting to force the nonprofit to sell its property.

A Southeast District judge had concluded 267 of Crosslands’ 949 Griggs County acres — including one 84-acre lake — did not count as farm or ranch land and were not subject to the law. His decision also allowed Crosslands to keep another 260 acres of farmland needed to manage the adjacent wetlands.

The state argued in its appeal that allowing Crosslands to keep its property would create a loophole in North Dakota’s anti-corporate farming law and allow nonprofits to buy up thousands of acres of wetlands and highly erodible cropland with no state government oversight.