A report by the US Department of Agriculture’s (DAG) agricultural Service Agency has brought attention to the startling rate at which foreign interests have been buying US agricultural and forest land, amid growing worries over foreign land purchases within the US.
According to the research, these foreign entities added 3.4 million acres of U.S. soil to their holdings between December 31, 2021, and the same day in 2022. Foreign parties possessed over 43.4 million acres in total, of which 28% was farmland, 21% was pasture and other agricultural property, 2% was non-agricultural land, and 48% was forest land.
The DAG previously projected that 1.2 billion of the approximately 2.3 billion acres of U.S. land were utilized for agriculture; hence, as of the end of 2022, foreign ownership of property used exclusively for agriculture accounted for just less than 1.8% of the country’s total land area.
The percentage of foreign-owned land to privately held domestic land topped ten percent in two states. Hawaii recorded a 12.8% percentage, while Maine recorded a 21.1% percentage. With 8.6% and 8.3% respectively, Alabama, Michigan, and Kentucky completed the top five.
Rhode Island stood as the state with the least amount of foreign-held land, with external parties controlling a mere 14 acres of agricultural land, which the DAG listed as a rounded 0.0%. Connecticut placed second with 0.1%. Massachusetts placed third with 0.2%, while Delaware posted 0.4%, tying New Hampshire.
Who Are the Foreign Buyers?
The majority of foreign-owned land in the United States was held by Canadian investors; their combined holdings accounted for 14.2 million acres, or 32% of all agricultural and non-agricultural land held by foreigners.
The next four biggest foreign groups held a total of 13 million acres, or 29% of the land. Dutch investors held 12% of the total, followed by Italians with 6%, British investors with 5%, and Germans with 5%.
Lawmakers around the country have expressed particular concerns about Chinese-based corporations’ acquisitions of American land, particularly those parcels close to U.S. military facilities. According to The Washington Post, lawmakers in 33 states have submitted 81 proposals this year that would restrict the purchase of agricultural land or real estate close to military facilities by the Chinese government, some Chinese-based companies, and a large number of Chinese citizens.
“There were no filings directly by the government of China,” the report stated.
State governments, on the other hand, have taken action out of concern that land acquired by China could be used as a staging area for espionage operations. In May of this year, Florida, for example, prohibited the sale of land to Chinese nationals, with significant exceptions.
“Florida is taking action to stand against the United States’ greatest geopolitical threat — the Chinese Communist Party,” GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis said at the time. “I’m proud to sign this legislation to stop the purchase of our farmland and land near our military bases and critical infrastructure by Chinese agents, to stop sensitive digital data from being stored in China, and to stop CCP influence in our education system from grade school to grad school. We are following through on our commitment to crack down on Communist China.”
Ryan DeLarme is an American journalist navigating a labyrinth of political corruption, overreaching corporate influence, a burgeoning censorship-industrial complex, compromised media, and the planned destruction of our constitutional republic. He writes for Badlands Media and is also a Host and Founder at Vigilant News. Additionally, his writing has been featured in American Thinker, the Post-Liberal, Winter Watch, Underground Newswire, and Stillness in the Storm. He’s also writes for alt-media streaming platforms Dauntless Dialogue and Rise.tv. Ryan enjoys gardening, kung fu, creative writing and fighting to SAVE AMERICA
