Thompson, Womack, colleagues call for GAO study on foreign investment in U.S. farmland

U.S. Reps. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA) and Steve Womack (R-AR) joined 128 of their colleagues in requesting that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) review foreign investment in America’s farmland and its subsequent impact on national security, trade, and food security.

The lawmakers also want to know what efforts are being taken by the U.S. government to monitor these acquisitions, according to an Oct. 1 letter sent to United States Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who oversees the GAO.

“It is critical for Congress to have a thorough understanding of foreign investment in our nation’s agricultural land,” said Rep. Thompson, ranking member of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, who led the letter with U.S. Rep. James Comer (R-KY), ranking member of the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee.

Foreign ownership and investment in U.S. agricultural land has nearly doubled in the past decade, Rep. Thompson said. “This growing trend has elevated concerns regarding national security in a time of uncertainty that is already compounded by challenges to our supply chain infrastructure, high input costs for farmers, and geopolitical pressures,” he added.

Rep. Comer agreed, saying “China’s ownership of U.S. farmland is a threat to our food security and national security. Americans need transparency about the federal government’s efforts to address this growing problem.”

In fact, according to Rep. Womack, America’s reliance on China has compounded supply chain issues. “It’s not smart to exacerbate those vulnerabilities,” he said. “Every safeguard should be in place to protect our farmlands and agriculture production.”

The members reiterated their concerns in their letter, citing data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that shows foreign individuals and entities held an interest in 37.6 million acres of U.S. agricultural land as of Dec. 31, 2020, representing 2.9 percent of all privately held agricultural land and 1.7 percent of all land in the United States. 

“Investors from countries such as China and Saudi Arabia have increased their investment in U.S. agricultural land,” wrote the lawmakers. “One of the largest groups of foreign investors is renewable energy companies, causing some to raise concerns that farmland is being removed from agricultural production.”

They requested that the GAO conduct a study that addresses several issues, such as what is known about the extent of and trends in foreign investment in U.S. agricultural land; how USDA’s Farm Service Agency collects data on foreign investment in U.S. agricultural land and what steps are taken to ensure data reliability; how USDA’s data collection methods have changed since enactment of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA); and what procedures are in place to ensure proper disclosure of acquired agricultural land by a foreign person or entity, among several others.

“Users of the data reported to the Farm Service Agency under AFIDA have found inaccuracies and express concerns that estimates of foreign ownership of agricultural land may be underreported due to the data’s lack of reliability and the definitions used by USDA to report foreign ownership,” the members wrote.