Foreign ownership of US farmland is small and concentrated in commercial forests, with Canada the largest foreign holder, according to a new analysis by Bruce Sherrick and Juo-Han Tsay of the University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Farms.com reports.

The researchers used data reported under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA), which since 1978 has required foreign persons and entities to report interests in US agricultural land; the latest USDA report runs to 31 December 2024. Foreign interests hold reportable positions in about 46.3 million acres, but that figure includes forestland, pastureland, cropland and long-term leases for renewable energy projects. Compared with total US land in farms, foreign-owned land is about 0.67 percent.

Nearly 89 percent of identified foreign-owned agricultural land is commercial forestland. Canada leads, followed by Singapore, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland. Direct ownership attributed to Chinese citizens is a small share of the total, and remains relatively small even when affiliated entities are included.

Texas ranks first for foreign-owned agricultural acres, followed by Michigan, Oregon, Alabama and Maine, mostly in timber regions such as the Gulf South, Pacific Northwest, Upper Great Lakes and New England. In the Corn Belt and Plains, by contrast, foreign interests are more often long-term wind and solar leases. Corporations and limited liability companies account for most holdings.

The TIAA Center for Farmland Research has built a county-level interactive map showing where foreign-owned land is, which countries are involved and how it is used. The researchers conclude that public debate on the issue benefits from a fact-based reading of ownership records.

Photo: Altairisfar / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Source: Farms.com