Purchases of U.S. farmland by places like China have been a concern for some time, and it is why lawmakers want to keep better tabs on those deals. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says the Department wants to begin doing digital records, but there are a few problems.
“No matter how much money you give us, it will always be imperfect for this reason: there are over three thousand county recorder offices around the country. Every county has a recorder’s office. It would require us to have a centralized database where every real estate transaction would be put into a database to look at. I made a request of the Treasury Department for us to be more engaged in issues involving agribusiness, agriculture, farmland, and we have. We’ve been engaged and involved in several projects. We appreciate the fact that this 2024 budget provided resources, for the first time, directly assisting us to expand staffing for that purpose.”
The new push for better records was a bipartisan request, signed by 11 senators. It comes after several controversial purchases by China, including a stake in a grain terminal in St. Louis. Port leaders in the area say the move leaves a lot of unanswered questions.
