Sponsors (13)
The bill improves transparency, agency coordination, and national-security review of foreign agricultural land ownership—helping protect farmland—while imposing new reporting requirements, privacy exposures, enforcement risks for small or inadvertent investors, and implementation costs borne by owners and taxpayers.
Farmers and rural communities will gain clearer foreign-ownership transparency and faster sharing of AFIDA reports with CFIUS, strengthening enforcement of foreign-ownership limits and national-security review of agricultural land.
USDA/FSA and FPAC–BC will have clearer procedures, data-validation and coordination roles and the ability to identify small (≥1%) fractional foreign owners, improving enforcement, program-eligibility accuracy, and targeted civil penalties for deliberate noncompliance.
Filers and local/state record-keepers will get a planned electronic AFIDA submission and retention system and implementation timeline, which should streamline reporting and recordkeeping and make disclosure records more accessible and consistent.
Small business owners and farmers will face increased reporting and compliance burdens because entities must track and report indirect foreign holdings at low (1%) thresholds, raising administrative costs for many owners.
Individuals and businesses filing AFIDA reports will face expanded collection and sharing of identifying information (including sharing with CFIUS), creating privacy and administrative-concern risks.
Small business owners and farmers with nominal or inadvertent fractional foreign investors may be more likely to face enforcement attention and civil penalties as agencies can identify and target small foreign holdings.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires 1% AFIDA reporting for direct or aggregated foreign ownership, strengthens FPAC–BC data validation/enforcement, mandates CFIUS data-sharing MOUs, and updates FSA guidance per GAO recommendations.
Official title: To amend the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 to establish an additional reporting requirement, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 14, 2025 by Donald J. Bacon · Last progress July 14, 2025
Adds a 1% reporting threshold for foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land and strengthens implementation and enforcement of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA). It requires FPAC–BC to validate data and ensure compliance, mandates MOUs with CFIUS to share AFIDA reports, updates FSA guidance to follow GAO recommendations, and directs analysis and timelines if an electronic submission system is not in place within one year.