(Bloomberg) – Increasingly, the United States’ most fertile land is being snatched up by China and other foreign buyers, but problems with how the U.S. tracks this data make it difficult to know how much. The report says there is.
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Foreign ownership and investment in real estate such as farmland, pasture and forests surged to nearly 40 million acres in 2021, a 40% increase from 2016, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. But an analysis conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a bipartisan watchdog that reports to Congress, found errors in the data, including double counting of the largest land holdings linked to China. Other issues include challenges in enforcing U.S. laws requiring foreign nationals to self-report such purchases, the report said, citing the USDA.
Outside ownership of U.S. farmland has attracted attention in Washington amid growing concerns about threats to food supply chains and other national security risks. Democratic and Republican lawmakers alike are calling for a crackdown on the sale of farmland to China and other countries.
“Without improving its internal processes, USDA will be unable to report reliable information to Congress and the public about where and how much foreign agricultural land is held by foreign nationals,” the report said.
Read more: Senators call for ban on Chinese land purchases following report
GAO made six recommendations, including that the Department of Agriculture should communicate with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the Treasury Department-led interagency committee that reviews business transactions with foreign countries, more timely and complete data. This includes sharing.
Another proposal calls on the Department of Agriculture to ensure that reporting of agricultural foreign investments under a 1978 federal law is complete. The USDA said more funding would be needed to build and maintain the online application portal, according to the report.
“GAO’s recommendations will require changes by Congress, starting with funding needed to increase staff and modernize processes,” USDA spokesman Alan Rodriguez wrote to Bloomberg on Friday. said in an emailed statement. “Any system for tracking land purchases and ownership would be complex and expensive, creating potential risks to producer privacy, farmland prices, and the interests of individual U.S. sellers.”
(Adds USDA response starting in paragraph 6.)
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