This week, U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, and Chuck Grassley, R-IA, introduced the Farmland Security Act in order to increase scrutiny over foreign investments in American agricultural land.
Grassley says foreign buyers buying farmland in the U.S. raises national security concerns.
“By requiring the USDA to report these purchases in real-time, we can keep better track of the impact these acquisitions could have on our rural communities,” he says. “The Farmland Security Act will also help protect domestic food production and our national security interests.”
Baldwin shares this sentiment, and tells Mid-West Farm Report the bill ensures that the American people and Congress can address the impacts foreign investments have on family farms, rural communities and the domestic food supply.
The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act requires foreign entities to disclose their purchases of American agricultural land. Current reporting shows that foreign-owned agricultural acreage has nearly doubled in the past decade, however, the data that has been collected is incomplete and inaccurate, according to Baldwin’s office. Baldwin’s press release notes investigators estimate that the foreign ownership of land is nearly double current figures.
To protect American farmers, rural communities and domestic food supply chains, the Farmland Security Act includes the following provisions:
- The Secretary shall report to Congress on foreign investments in agricultural land in the United States, including the impact foreign ownership has on family farms, rural communities, and the domestic food supply.
- The Secretary shall publish all prior year disclosures of foreign investments in agricultural land in the United States on an interactive public USDA database and have real time updates to the database as disclosures are filed.
See a one-pager on the bill: https://www.baldwin.senate.gov/download/the-farmland-security-act-of-2022-one-pager
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