Foreign Ownership of U.S. Agricultural Land Still Growing

By Faith Parum

Key Takeaways

• The share of foreign-owned U.S. land continues to increase. In 2024, foreign entities held approximately 47.24 million acres of U.S. agricultural land, up 91% since 2010, accounting for 3.6% of agricultural land in the United States.

• Entities from Canada and Europe hold the most U.S. land. Canadian investors hold around 16.1 million acres while European countries combined hold more than 18 million acres of U.S. farmland.

• Chinese investment in U.S. farmland has been a large topic of conversation. In 2024, Chinese investors held approximately 245,000 acres. This is less than 1% of foreign-owned agricultural land.

• It is important to note that most of this land is not used in farming. In fact, nearly half is forestland and large amounts are used for renewable energy projects such as solar and wind.

Foreign ownership of U.S. land is a widely debated issue, driven by concerns about national security, agricultural productivity and long-term implications for U.S. agriculture. USDA released updated foreign ownership data for 2024, detailing what foreign investments exist on farmland, where those investments are concentrated and which countries account for the largest holdings.

The latest data show foreign investors holding or leasing around 47.2 million acres of U.S. agricultural land in 2024, representing 3.6% of privately held agricultural land. While this continues a long-term upward trend, the pace has slowed. Most foreign-held agricultural land is forestland or tied to renewable energy projects.

Background

The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA) requires foreign entities to self-report purchases, sales and other interests in U.S. agricultural land to USDA's Farm Service Agency. Reporting is mandatory, with penalties of up to 25% of the land’s fair market value, but it relies on self-reporting, and enforcement has historically been limited. USDA has proposed regulatory changes to broaden the categories that require reporting and increase penalties for non-compliance. Agricultural land reported under AFIDA includes cropland, pastureland and forestland.

Reportable interests include purchases and leases of 10 years or more, so a foreign-held acre is not always a foreign-owned acre. Much of the land tied to wind and solar projects is leased from U.S. landowners who still own it.