AgWeb, a U.S. publication, is reporting that farmland ownership is becoming a potential lighting rod in an election year. Arkansas has become the first state to ban foreign-owned farmland. Politics, particularly with sensitivity to Chinese-owned farmland, is driving the debate. But a recent USDA report shows that 14.2 million acres (32%) of foreign-owned farmland is actually held by Canadians.

Completing the top five countries are:  Netherlands (12%), Italy (6%), UK (6%) and Germany (5%). Together this group of foreigners hold 13 million acres or 29% of the total of 43.4 million foreign-owned acres. China holds 350,000 acres, less than one per cent. Chinese holdings, associated with wind energy, are primarily in Texas. In North Carolina and Missouri, Chinese ownership is tied to Smithfield and pork production. 

As the article points out, the move to ban foreign ownership may have unintended consequences. Syngenta is at the end of that spear. Citing national security concerns in October 2023, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced “Syngenta, a Chinese state-owned agrichemical company must give up its land holdings in Arkansas.”

In real estate terms, she was referring to a 160-acre research site owned by Northrup King Seed, a Syngenta subsidiary. The company must divest within two years.

For the full article, link here: https://www.agweb.com/news/business/farmland/which-foreign-country-owns-most-farmland-us-hint-its-not-china

Source: AgWeb January 4, 2024