One country is behind an increase in foreign ownership of 贬补飞补颈驶颈’s dwindling agricultural land holdings. Hint: It’s not China.

New data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides a fresh snapshot of who owns 贬补飞补颈驶颈鈥檚 agricultural lands. 

Foreign ownership of 贬补飞补颈驶颈驶s farmland has spiked over the past five years from 166,000 acres to 278,000 acres 鈥 a 65% increase 鈥 according to a USDA Farm Service Agency report released last month.

Maine has the highest proportion of its private farmland under foreign ownership, 21%, but the new numbers put 贬补飞补颈驶颈 in second place nationally after a jump from 9.8% in 2021 to 17.1% as of December 2023.

“We are seeing an increase in foreign-held agricultural land in the U.S. and that is because it鈥檚 a good investment,” said David Ortega, a food economist and professor at Michigan State University who has testified before congressional committees on the issue.

Since 2017, foreign farmland holdings in the U.S. have increased an average of nearly 2.6 million acres a year, and the issue has energized members of the Republican caucus who increasingly view it as a matter of national security.

There is currently no federal law restricting foreign acquisition of U.S. farmland, although about half of the states have some level of restriction, according to the .

贬补飞补颈驶颈 legislation is essentially silent on the issue but does forbid sales of public farmland to foreign buyers.

Delays With USDA Data

Care needs to be taken when looking at changes over time of foreign-held agricultural land because of known flaws with the USDA鈥檚 data collection under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, Ortega said.

"Some of the increase could be due to a reconciliation of past transactions and we don鈥檛 know the full extent of this," he said, adding that the most recent numbers are still a year behind.

Also, foreign buyers only have to self-report the purchases and 鈥淯SDA does not sufficiently verify and conduct quality reviews to track the accuracy and completeness of its collected Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act data,鈥 the Government Accountability Office .

The USDA also doesn't have investigative powers or the authority to identify interests beyond the initial layers of ownership 鈥 meaning other interests could be concealed within anonymous corporate structures like LLCs.

But it is still significant that an additional 71,000 acres of 贬补飞补颈驶颈 agriculture land has gone under foreign ownership according to the latest report 鈥 most of it purchased by companies and investors from Canada.

", this is nothing to be concerned about," said Ortega. "We鈥檙e seeing that one of the major holders here is Canada followed by The Netherlands, and there鈥檚 a significant amount of the remaining 178,000 acres owned by other countries.鈥

Mahi Pono farm fields on Maui.
Mahi Pono, a company backed by Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board, bought 41,000 acres of farmland in Central Maui in 2018. Canadian investors are the largest group of foreign agricultural landowners in 贬补飞补颈驶颈.
(Nathan Eagle/Civil Beat/2023)

What About Chinese Interests?

The for 贬补飞补颈驶颈 shows Canadian interests ramping up in 2018 with the purchase of 41,000 acres of former Alexander & Baldwin plantation land in Central Maui by Mahi Pono 鈥 a partnership between Canada's Public Sector Pension Investment Board and California-based Pomona Farming.

The 71,000-acre increase can be attributed to purchases by Canada-based renewable energy interests that don't involve farming. Innergex Renewables bought over 63,000 acres for the solar and battery storage project near Waimea in 2018.

Canadian renewable energy company purchases of 7,200 acres on Maui and Big Island in 2022 and 2023 make up most of the balance. Germany's Bayer Corporation also bought 620 acres on O驶ahu last year for its crop sciences division.

What's noticeably missing in the 贬补飞补颈驶颈 data are any Chinese holdings.

Chinese investors own less than one percent of the 42 million acres of American farmland reported to be owned by foreigners, but that share has increased significantly since 2010.

Texas is currently the state with the largest levels of by Chinese interests.

Ortega said there was no evidence to support the notion that foreign investors were driving an increase in the value of agricultural land. 鈥淭he growth rate of agricultural land values doesn鈥檛 differ in counties with more foreign agricultural land holdings versus those that don鈥檛 have foreign holdings,鈥 he said.

He also said there was no evidence that foreign ownership of farmland affected commodity prices or food security.

of reported foreign purchases of 贬补飞补颈驶颈 farmland from 1968 to 2023 below.

Note: Totals are at least one year behind and may be revised by the USDA at a future date.

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