Sponsors (30)
The bill strengthens national-security protections for U.S. agriculture and improves government oversight and early warning about foreign-investment risks, but at the cost of higher compliance and administrative burdens, potential reductions in foreign capital, retrospective impacts on completed deals, and added regulatory uncertainty.
Farmers, processors, and supply-chain businesses gain stronger protection against risky foreign takeovers and potential disruptions to the food supply by expanding CFIUS authority to treat agricultural systems and supply chains as critical infrastructure and enabling mitigation or blocking of risky transactions.
USDA participation in investment reviews plus required federal and GAO reporting gives decisionmakers more agricultural expertise and independent oversight, improving the information base for CFIUS decisions and Congressional policy responses.
Farmers and agricultural producers get earlier warning and greater visibility into foreign-investment risks and supply-chain vulnerabilities through annual federal analyses and reports, enabling better preparedness and response planning.
Farm and agribusiness owners will face longer, more costly reviews and compliance burdens for transactions involving foreign parties, increasing transaction costs and delaying deals.
The measures could reduce foreign investment or make capital more expensive for U.S. agriculture if investors avoid deals subject to scrutiny or if reporting prompts restrictive policy, limiting financing and growth options for some producers.
Extending review authority to transactions already completed or pending on enactment could retroactively force mitigation or divestment, upending deals and imposing unexpected costs on current owners.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Adds agriculture and agricultural supply chains to CFIUS jurisdiction, seats USDA on CFIUS, and mandates annual reports on foreign investment and espionage risks to U.S. agriculture.
Official title: To amend the Defense Production Act of 1950 to prevent harm and disruption to the United States agriculture industry by protecting against foreign influence over agriculture production and supply chains, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 22, 2025 by Ronny Jackson · Last progress January 22, 2025
Adds U.S. agriculture and agricultural supply chains to the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), inserts a USDA representative on the Committee, and requires annual government reports on foreign influence, investment risks, and espionage threats to U.S. agriculture. The changes apply to transactions proposed, pending, or completed on or after enactment and expand CFIUS definitions of covered transactions, critical infrastructure, and critical technologies to explicitly include agricultural systems and products.