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Strengthens oversight of foreign investment in U.S. agricultural land by expanding disclosure, reporting, and enforcement tools; creates a new USDA investigative operations chief; and gives CFIUS explicit authority to review real-estate transactions by foreign entities of concern. It requires an annual national-security report, builds a public database of foreign-owned agricultural land, bars foreign persons from participating in certain Farm Service Agency programs, and authorizes funding to implement these changes with specified deadlines for reports and a three-year deadline to deploy the database.
Agriculture is vital to U.S. national security and economic prosperity and is an element of U.S. national power (finding (a)(1)).
U.S. agriculture feeds the U.S. and the world and has contributed to advances in technology and medicine (finding (a)(2)).
Strategic competitors seek to dominate the global agriculture industry and may undermine U.S. agriculture through intellectual property theft of seeds and other patented agriculture-related technologies (finding (a)(3)).
China has increased agricultural investments tenfold over the past decade and continues investing in U.S. agriculture, agribusiness, and animal processing, including acquiring U.S. farmland (finding (a)(4)).
The United States must prevent agricultural espionage and theft of intellectual property conducted by China and other foreign entities of concern as defined in section 9 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (finding (a)(5)).
Primary affected groups include farm owners and operators, prospective foreign buyers/investors, and USDA program participants. Owners/operators of commercial farms will face new disclosure rules, data publication, and possible exclusion from Farm Service Agency programs if they are foreign persons. Foreign investors and entities will face heightened review, possible referral to CFIUS, public listing of land holdings, and civil penalties for disclosure failures. USDA, DHS, Treasury (CFIUS), and other federal agencies will take on expanded monitoring, investigative, reporting, and database responsibilities; they will require staffing, secure IT systems, and interagency processes. Rural communities could experience changes in land markets and potential shifts in who controls agricultural land; transparency could deter some foreign investment but also address perceived national security risks. Lenders, title companies, and parties to land transactions will have increased due-diligence duties and may need to incorporate new certification and reporting steps. Privacy and commercial confidentiality concerns may arise from making ownership records public; audits and accuracy checks will be required. Implementation costs and timing depend on appropriations; smaller agencies and local partners may face compliance burdens without guaranteed additional funding.
Multiple amendments to section 721 of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (50 U.S.C. 4565): (1) expand the definition/coverage of 'covered transaction' to include transactions described in a newly added subparagraph (B)(vi); (2) add a new subparagraph (B)(vi) addressing purchases, leases, or concessions of private or public real estate in the United States by a 'foreign entity of concern'; (3) insert a new definition paragraph establishing 'foreign entity of concern' with the meaning given in 15 U.S.C. 4651; (4) add an additional factor to section 721(f) to consider potential follow-on national security effects to food security, food safety, biosecurity, environmental protection, or national defense; (5) add the Secretary of Agriculture and the Commissioner of Food and Drugs to the officials listed in section 721(k)(2) as members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States; and (6) require the President and designated agencies to include in the annual report a list of real estate in the United States owned by foreign entities of concern or persons closely associated with such entities.
Replaces existing section 3503 to establish a Chief of Operations of Investigative Actions (Senior Executive Service appointment) within the Department of Agriculture, define duties, security provisions, coordination responsibilities with named Federal and state/local entities, authority to refer transactions to CFIUS, and reporting/administration structure.
Alters the definitions section: changes introductory wording, adds paragraph headings and capitalization consistency, redesignates several existing paragraphs, inserts a new definition for 'foreign entity of concern' by reference to 15 U.S.C. 4651, and inserts a new definition of 'malign effort'.
Adds a new section titled '11 Reports' to the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, creating specific reporting requirements and deadlines for the Secretary to report to Congress on implementation, feasibility of tracking covered transactions, and annual activity reporting for a 10-year period.
Amends section 3 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (7 U.S.C. 3502) by revising subsection (a) (grounds for civil penalties), redesignating subsection (b) as (d), adding new subsections (b) (making collected penalties available without appropriation), (c) (civil action language), and adding new subsections (e) (public disclosure of penalty payers) and (f) (nationwide outreach). Also adjusts penalty amount language to set a lower bound of 5 percent and retain an upper bound of 25 percent.
Inserts a new section (titled 'Due diligence requirements') after existing section 4 (7 U.S.C. 3503) requiring entities involved in the purchase or transfer of agricultural land (including buyers, sellers, real estate agents, brokers, and title companies) to conduct due diligence relating to the land and to certify to the Secretary that, to the entity's best knowledge and belief, the entity is in compliance with all applicable provisions of the Act.
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Introduced March 6, 2025 by Joni Ernst · Last progress March 6, 2025
FARMLAND Act of 2025
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Introduced in Senate