WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a lifelong farmer and senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today joined Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) to introduce a bipartisan bill to increase transparency and oversight of foreign investments in the American agricultural industry. The Farmland Security Act of 2023 requires all foreign investors, including “shell companies,” that buy American agriculture land to report their holding and strengthens penalties for those who evade filing. It also supports research to assess the impacts of foreign ownership of American farmland and agricultural production capacity on our domestic food supply, family farms and rural communities.
Earlier this week, Grassley introduced related legislation to give top U.S. agriculture and food officials a permanent seat at the table when reviewing transactions that could result in foreign ownership of U.S. property, including farmland.
“The world’s best farmland is located in America,” Grassley said. “Our foreign competitors recognize this and continue to invest in American agricultural land, increasing competition for young and beginning farmers and threatening our national security. Our bill gives Congress and the American people the resources to closely monitor these foreign sales in order to assess the risks they pose. I’ll always fight to protect our farmland, preserve domestic agriculture and support local farmers.”
“Our agricultural economy is the beating heart of Wisconsin’s rural communities. But when foreign investors own farmland and agricultural processing capacity, it can put our national security, domestic food supply, and local communities at risk,” Baldwin said. “The Farmland Security Act of 2023 will give the American public and Congress a clearer picture of who owns America’s heartland, while also investing in critical research to better understand how foreign ownership is impacting our rural communities, family farms, and national security.”
Background
Grassley and Baldwin previously led the Farmland Security Act of 2022, which passed Congress as part of the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill. Now law, the legislation requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to transition to digital filings of foreign purchases of domestic agricultural land, create a publicly accessible database on foreign ownership data to enable research into ownership trends and report to Congress on the impacts of these investments.
The Farmland Security Act of 2023 builds on their work by taking additional steps to support transparency, collect complete and accurate data on foreign ownership, and better understand the scale and impact of foreign ownership. Specifically, the legislation would:
Impose new financial penalties on foreign owners or “shell companies” who fail to report or misreport their acreage;
Require research into foreign ownership of agricultural production capacity and foreign participation in agricultural economic activity in the United States; and