U.S. Senator John Cornyn, representing Texas, has introduced the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure (AFIDA) Improvements Act alongside Senator Pete Ricketts from Nebraska. This legislation aims to enhance the existing Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act by equipping the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with tools to address foreign adversaries’ ownership of American farmland.
Senator Cornyn expressed concerns about national security risks associated with foreign entities purchasing U.S. farmland, particularly from countries like China. “Foreign entities purchasing American farmland opens the door to serious national security threats from countries like China that aim to undermine the United States, and we’ve already seen nefarious attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to acquire farmland near U.S. military bases in Texas,” he stated. He emphasized that the new legislation would bolster enforcement and improve data sharing to identify such purchases more effectively.
The bill is supported by Senators Tommy Tuberville, John Fetterman, Roger Wicker, and Katie Britt as cosponsors. In the House of Representatives, Representative Don Bacon is leading companion legislation.
The AFIDA Improvements Act proposes several measures including codifying recommendations from a January 2024 study which highlighted inadequacies in USDA’s current AFIDA process against foreign ownership of agricultural land by adversaries. It also seeks to enhance information sharing between relevant committees and the USDA, update AFIDA guidelines, establish an online system for reporting, and mandate disclosure for foreign persons holding over one percent interest in U.S. agricultural land.
Currently, under AFIDA regulations, foreign entities must report transactions involving American agricultural land to the USDA. The department reports that foreign investors own over 40 million acres of such land nationwide. Notably, Chinese ownership increased significantly from 13,720 acres in 2010 to 383,935 acres in 2021.
