"South Dakota has not witnessed the same rapid shift to large-scale, corporate-controlled
"South Dakota has not witnessed the same rapid shift to large-scale, corporate-controlled agriculture. This is largely thanks to a 1974 statute restricting corporate involvement in farming and recent measures that have further strengthened the ban." "Amendment E to the state's constitution, prohibiting corporations from owning farmland or engaging in farming. Proponents of the defeated Amendment A have accused voters of moving backward, but a study conducted by Drs. Rick Welsh and Thomas A. Lyson reveals that counties in states with anti-corporate farming laws saw lower unemployment, fewer impoverished families, and more farms realizing cash without such legislation. Eight other Midwest states have laws restricting corporate control of farms. South Dakota's measures are the strictest of their kind."
Source: Cusick, Erin, "South Dakota Backs Family Farms," YES!, Issue 24, Winter 2002, 8