Sponsors (3)
Official title: Prohibit the purchase or lease of agricultural land in the United States by persons associated with certain foreign governments, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 18, 2025 by Thomas Hawley Tuberville · Last progress February 18, 2025
The bill tightens and clarifies restrictions and reporting on foreign interests in U.S. agricultural land to protect national security and local food systems, while trading off reduced foreign investment, increased compliance and administrative costs, privacy risks, and legal uncertainty for affected owners and institutions.
Rural communities and U.S. farmers face reduced risk of foreign-government influence over agricultural land and local food production because the bill restricts covered foreign-adversary persons and gives the President authority to act on national-security risks.
U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who own or lease agricultural land retain access to USDA programs, food-safety inspections, and worker-health protections, while the Farm Service Agency remains the administering agency to preserve continuity.
Transparency and enforcement improve because the bill requires broader AFIDA reporting (including leases and security interests), raises civil penalties and allows liens, and mandates near-real-time datasets—helping local planning and deterring noncompliance.
Farmers and rural communities could lose access to foreign capital because the bill's broad foreign-adversary designations and tighter rules may deter legitimate foreign investment and leasing, reducing available financing for some farms and rural development.
Owners and lessees face increased reporting, documentation and procedural requirements that may delay program payments and transactions, and the USDA and other agencies will face higher administrative burdens and compliance costs.
Owners or entities with ties to named foreign-adversary countries (including those with equity or trading links) risk losing access to farm-subsidy and crop-insurance programs and face civil/criminal penalties, liens, or even loss of land control if they fail to comply.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Blocks persons tied to China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea from buying/leasing U.S. agricultural land, tightens AFIDA reporting and penalties, limits USDA program access for such owners, and requires related federal reports.
Prohibits persons owned, controlled by, or subject to direction of specified "foreign adversaries" (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea) from purchasing or leasing U.S. agricultural land — public or private — and from participating in most USDA programs if they own or lease such land. It expands and accelerates reporting and transparency under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA), increases civil penalties and liens for violations, authorizes the President to use IEEPA to implement prohibitions and penalties, and requires regular reports from USDA, the Director of National Intelligence, and the GAO on foreign ownership risks, misreporting, and enforcement capacity.