BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring says the percentage of North Dakota farms in compliance with pesticide regulations has increased.

Goehring says the rise is due to a new enforcement strategy his department crafted in fiscal 2008.

Goehring says in the year before the changes, the compliance rate was about 50 percent. It has now risen to 80 percent of farms and businesses inspected by his department.