States look to restrict foreign ownership of agricultural land; many of the concerns involve China and Russia

A farm tractor rolls along outside a Silver City, Mississippi
neighborhood. (Photo by Rogelio V. Solis, AP)

Amid national food security and political concerns, many states are restricting or prohibiting some countries from purchasing farmland. Andy Gipson, Mississippi's commissioner of agriculture and commerce, feels "the growing trend of foreign ownership could threaten what he views as the state's most valuable asset: the land that grows its forests, rice and cotton," reports Kevin Hardy of Stateline. "Gipson has spent recent months studying the growing amount of his state's farmland being bought up by foreign interests."

Gipson hopes Mississippi "will join a growing group of states seeking to ban or further restrict foreign ownership of farmland," Hardy writes. "Lawmakers are targeting nations considered hostile to U.S. interests, such as China and Russia, and looking for new enforcement measures. Many see Arkansas as leading the latter push; officials there invoked a new law in October that bans certain foreign owners and ordered a Chinese seed company to divest its land."

The issue of foreign farmland ownership has been around for centuries, Hardy reports, but it was "reinvigorated after Chinese firms purchased land near military installments in North Dakota and Texas, said Micah Brown, an attorney at the National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas who tracks the issue. . . . Brown said lawmakers in 36 states proposed some sort of legislation on the issue this year, ranging from caps to bans to targets on certain countries, with measures passing in about a dozen of them. More bills are expected in upcoming sessions."

In opening a U.S. Senate hearing in September, Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow "acknowledged that the nation's food system is an integral component of national security," Hardy adds. "With more foreign entities buying up land, she said, the issue deserves scrutiny. But she offered a warning: 'We must also be cautious of our history of barring immigrants from owning land in our country and ensure efforts to protect our national and economic security do not encourage discrimination," she said.'"

Overall, foreigners hold a small percentage of U.S. agriculture land, totaling around 40 million acres at the end of 2021, according to the Department of Agriculture. "Canadian investors own the largest share of that acreage, followed by investors from the United Kingdom and Europe. Foreign ownership represents only about 3.1% of all privately held U.S. agricultural land," Hardy notes. "But the number is quickly rising: Foreign ownership has increased more than 50% in the past decade, Brown said. But USDA data shows Chinese ownership is still relatively rare: Chinese interests own less than 1% of the nation's foreign-held agricultural acreage.

"Federal law currently does not regulate foreign ownership land beyond requiring foreign buyers to register with the USDA. But there is bipartisan interest in Congress in tighter restrictions and reporting on foreign ownership."