Provisions to prevent “hostile” nations form acquiring agricultural land in the U.S. are incorporated in the USDA appropriations for fiscal year 2024.  The Secretary of Agriculture will now be a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and will participate in implementing the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978. An allotment of $2 million was assigned to the USDA to fulfill this obligation.

The strengthening of oversight of purchases of agricultural land by foreign nations is the result of a U.S. Government Accountability Office review and report conducted in January 2024 that criticized the USDA for collecting data that was not adequately shared with the CFIUS.  Five recommendations made by the GAO were accepted by USDA and will be implemented.

In 2021, EGG-NEWS reported on the intended purchase of a specific tract of land by China ostensibly to erect a corn milling facility that was initially welcomed by the local community.  This intended transaction was ignored by the CFIUS, notwithstanding the fact that the intended purchase was located in close proximity to the Grand Forks Air Force Base.  The U.S. Air Force vigorously opposed the purchase and the resulting publicity resulted in termination of the intended project.

At the end of 2022 close to 43 million acres or 3.4 percent of U.S. agricultural acreage was owned by foreign entities. Canadian companies owned 32 percent of this amount mostly as forests. Agricultural tracts were owned by the Netherlands (6 percent); Italy, Germany and the U.K. (5 percent each) Japan, (1.5 percent) and China, (1 percent) mostly through acquisition of Smithfield Foods. Concern has been expressed over potential purchases by unfriendly nations including the Peoples Republic of China, Iran, the Russian Federation and more unlikely North Korea and Venezuela.