Corporate farming laws, also referred to as anti-corporate farming laws, have become a common means by which state legislators have recognized the economic importance of the family farm and enacted legislation in order to preserve and protect the family farm from being driven out of business by large corporate farming operations. Nine states have enacted laws that prohibit or limit corporate farming. These states are South Dakota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas.

Though corporate farming laws vary from state to state, the general purpose of these laws is to place restrictions on corporate farming activities. Most of the states that have enacted these laws have set out exemptions to the general prohibition of corporate farming to allow family farm corporations. Generally, a family farm corporation is a corporation owned by members of a family engaged in the operation of a family farm. Some states require that at least one member of the family farm corporation must physically reside on the farm. In addition, most of these states allow banks to take ownership and control of farmland if the acquisition is done for the purpose of collecting a debt or enforcing a legal security interest.

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