Foreign investors own less farmland in the U.S. than you might think.
USDA’s latest report shows that in 2021, foreign investors owned less than 3 percent of all land in the country. That amounts to 40 million acres.
Canada owns the largest portion at .97 percent. The Netherlands owns .37 percent, and Italy with .21 percent.
Most of the attention from lawmakers goes to China though, which ranks 18th on the list.
According to Danny Munch, an AFBF economist, “A way to look at this is about the size of a single average-size county in Ohio. Almost half of all foreign-owned ag land in the United States is timberland. In states like Maine, Michigan, Alabama, and Louisiana, over 85 percent of their foreign-owned ag land is all forest land. And when we look at the types of companies, the leading investors are timber and paper companies and renewable energy companies investing in land for solar and wind projects.”
These numbers come as Arkansas recently took action against Chinese-owned Syngenta to sell back their ag land.
