Why It Matters

Foreign holdings of U.S. agricultural land have grown an average of more than 2.4 million acres a year since 2017, according to a new Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that foreign nationals held interests in over 47 million acres as of Dec. 31, 2024, or 3.6% of privately owned agricultural land. ​

Current federal law imposes no limit on foreign farmland ownership. The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) instead requires foreign nationals to report acquisitions and transfers to USDA within 90 days.

The House passed a farm bill carrying AFIDA amendments on Apr. 30. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry reported its own version on Sept. 24.

The Big Picture

Some members of Congress have raised national security concerns about investment by foreign adversaries, particularly near sensitive military sites. A 2024 Government Accountability Office report found gaps in AFIDA data collection and in information sharing with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

USDA data show Canada accounts for 34% of foreign-held acres, and five countries together account for 61%. USDA reports 247,659 acres held by Chinese investors, about 0.5% of foreign holdings.

The Trump administration's National Farm Security Action Plan, released in late 2025, calls foreign-owned farmland a potential threat to national security. USDA's proposed rule of June 25 would move AFIDA administration to the USDA Office of Homeland Security. It would also require reports on leases longer than one year and tier civil penalties by whether a filer is tied to a foreign adversary. The comment period closed Aug. 10.

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Some commenters say expanding the definition of agricultural land to cover uses such as solar and wind power generation may exceed AFIDA's statutory authority. Others raise administrative burdens from geospatial reporting and a lower ownership threshold.

Several bills address the same ground:

  • H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, would amend AFIDA, add USDA to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and restrict adversary land purchases.
  • S. 5526, the Agricultural Act of 2026, would amend AFIDA reporting and penalties, including reports on leases of five years or more.
  • S. 4192, the PLOT Act of 2026 from Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE), would require geospatial boundary data in AFIDA reports. It sits in the Senate Agriculture Committee.

States can also act on their own. According to the National Agricultural Law Center, no state bans all foreign ownership, and approaches vary.

The Bottom Line

Resolving the security questions may involve several agencies, including CFIUS, whose reviews do not regularly draw on AFIDA data. Congress may consider requirements for information sharing between USDA and CFIUS, or a codified USDA role on the committee.

Amending AFIDA may yield more data and oversight without settling every national security or food security concern.

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