Foreign ownership of U.S. farm and farmland, particularly by Chinese owners, has become a controversial issue in U.S. politics.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has been publishing annual reports on this subject since 1978 https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/economic-and-policy-analysis/afida/annual-reports/index  These reports are legally mandated by Public Law 95-460 The Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-460) https://uscode.house.gov/statutes/pl/95/460.pdf which is codified in the United States Code (USC) at 7 USC 3501-3503, 3505-3508 https://uscode.house.gov/browse/prelim@title7/chapter66&edition=prelim with relevant administrative regulations being found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 7 CFR 781 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-7/subtitle-B/chapter-VII/subchapter-D/part-781?toc=1  The 2022 edition of this report https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/EPAS/PDF/2022_afida_annual_report_12_14_23.pdf was released in December 2023.  Chinese holdings information is first reported on p. 10 and a search of “China” produces 29 results.  Indiana foreign agricultural land ownership data by country and county begins on p. 56.  For instance, Tippecanoe County data is listed on p. 57, with 18,911 acres being owned by Canadians, 91 acres by Italians, 105 by British, 167 by Germans, and 11,748 by countries of origin.  Detailed information and explanations of this data are supplied early in the report.  On December 15, 2023 FSA requested public input due by February 16, 2024

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/news-releases/2023/usda-requests-public-input-on-reporting-for-foreign-agriculture-land-holdings on how foreign filers report agricultural land holdings in the United States and how such comments may be submitted to https://regulations.gov/ and contact information for an individual at FSA responsible this subject matter.  Three comments have been received on this proposal https://www.regulations.gov/document/FSA-2023-0017-0001/comment as of the morning of December 21, 2023.

This post was submitted by Bert Chapman, Purdue University.