Foreign Ownership of U.S. Farm Land
From the Western Ag Network, I’m Bob Larson. More than half of U.S. states now have some type of restriction on foreign ownership of agricultural land.
Harrison Pittman, director of the National Agricultural Law Center, says many of those laws are aimed at foreign adversaries rather than all foreign investors …
PITTMAN … “"Most of your foreign ownership is Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Germany. And I'm probably leaving one out there. But that's almost 70 percent, 66 to 70 percent of foreign ownership for those entities. When the real target was certain categories of foreign adversaries.”
24 to 26 states have enacted laws that restrict or prohibit foreign ownership and investment in private agricultural land …
PITTMAN … “So, they had trouble even sort of gaining traction in the democratic process from one state to the other. But I think that's really one of the trickier parts of this whole issue.”
Pittman says the focus was on certain countries …
PITTMAN … “And most of the laws and probably just about all the laws, if not all, that have been enacted really beginning in 2023, they're really tailored towards these foreign adversaries. So, think China, North Korea, Iran, Russia."
Washington state law does not impose a blanket ban on foreign individuals owning agricultural land, and Oregon does not prohibit the foreign ownership of private agricultural land.
