A Closer Look at Foreign Farmland Ownership
Foreign ownership of U.S. farmland is a debate within states and at the federal level. But the argument often centers on perception as much as policy. Harrison Pittman is director of the National Agricultural Law Center and is watching the debates unfold across the U.S. He says opinions differ widely on whether foreign-held agricultural land represents a real threat.
“There was a very large land purchase near a military base in Texas by a Chinese landowner," Pittman said. "And that really triggered a lot of interest in this. Some would look at that very specific transaction and say it really wasn't harmful. That wasn't a threat. Others would say by default, it's a threat. So it's really in the eyes of the beholder on that. I tend to I'm always trying to put the shoe on the other foot. So I think, you know, in China, how excited would they be if a U.S. investor was going to purchase, assuming that was even possible, land near sensitive sites in China? I suspect that they would have an opinion about that."
A Private Property Right Issue
Pittman said that's a common theme throughout the discussion, with supporters and critics weighing the issue very differently.
"Some people think it's not problematic," said Pittman. "Some people think it's terribly problematic. I know that sounds like a non-answer, but it's sort of ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’ on that. And so, I mean, you have some, frankly, you have some landowners right now that are saying, you know, the last three years, particularly in crop production, have been not so great. And here I have an opportunity to put development rights for solar or wind on my property. And it's a guaranteed cash flow. And yeah, it came from the Netherlands or, you know, often it could even be actually could be a U.S. company that is considered a foreign person. Others have opined that, you know, look, it's private property right. It's my property. I should have a right to sell it to the highest bidder."
A Deeper Look At China
He also says it's important to look at the numbers when discussing foreign ownership, particularly when it comes to China.
“So, like you've mentioned China a couple of times, like out of that 46 million acres that's currently in ag land, there's less than 250,000 acres that are held by some type of Chinese investor," Pittman noted. "That's less than 1% of all foreign owned acres, just to kind of put that in perspective. And there's, based on the AFIDA data, there's two Chinese owned companies that account for about 145,000 acres of that. So that's around 60%: Brazos Highland Limited Partnership, Murphy Brown, Murphy Brown in Missouri. That sounds familiar. It's basically the Smithfield Foods arena, pork production."
It's A Balancing Act
Pittman points to an Arkansas case involving a Syngenta research property as an example of how this debate can produce different outcomes
“And that actually involved, there was a research plot of around 160 acres over in northeast Arkansas that in modern day traced, and it was under the umbrella of Syngenta, which Syngenta is under the umbrella of ChemChina," Pittman stressed. "But it was land that is a research plot that was purchased decades before, you know, I think probably back when Ronald Reagan was president. Ultimately the enforcement action or the threat of enforcement action or maybe a hybridization of that resulted in Syngenta divesting itself of the property. And they even, they paid a fine. But there are people that think that that was necessary for some national security concerns, et cetera. And there's others that, and they applaud that. I mean, there's campaign commercials applauding it. But there are others who look at it and say, it literally was a research plot that was designed to help create technology that would be used in this specific geography to help provide a new or different tool to help with on the production side of ag."
Pittman, director of the National Agricultural Law Center, questions surrounding foreign ownership often come down to balancing national security concerns, private property rights, and the potential economic benefits of a particular investment. He said those competing viewpoints continue to shape the conversation at both the state and federal level. More than half of U.S. states now have some type of restriction on foreign ownership of agricultural land. And the Farm Bill under discussion has provisions related to foreign ownership.
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