Which Foreign Country Owns the Most Farmland in the U.S.? Hint: It's Not China

Thu, 11 Jan 2024 17:24:37 GMT

Controversy continues to grow across the U.S., and China is the primary target of the new rules. However, China doesn’t own the most farmland in the U.S., according to a new USDA report. It’s actually Canada, which accounts for 32%, or 14.2 million acres.

Rounding out the top five are the Netherlands at 12%, Italy at 6%, the United Kingdom at 6% and Germany at 5%. Together, citizens in those countries hold 13 million acres, or 29%, of the foreign-held acres in the U.S. China owns less than 1%, or 349,442 acres.

(Farm Journal)

All told, 43.4 million acres of forest and farmland in the U.S., or 3.4% of all ag land, is foreign owned as of Dec. 31, 2022. Roughly 30 million of those acres are reported as foreign-owned, with the remainder primarily under a 10-year-or-longer lease. Of the 30 million, 66% is owner-operated, 14% has a tenant or sharecropper as the producer and 12% report a manager other than the owner or a tenant/sharecropper as producer. The remaining 7% are “NA.”

USDA says the two biggest Chinese-owned companies with land holdings in the U.S. are Brazos Highland and Murphy Brown LLC, which owns Smithfield Foods. Brazos Highland reported owning 102,345 acres, and Smithfield owns 97,975 acres.

(Farm Journal)

The top five states with the largest Chinese holdings are:

Texas at 162,167 acres
North Carolina at 44,776 acres
Missouri at 43,071 acres
Utah at 32,447 acres
Virginia at 14,382 acres

USDA reports those five states combined account for 85% of China’s farmland ownership. In Texas, USDA reports China has long-term leases associated with wind energy, and in North Carolina and Missouri, ownership is tied to Smithfield and producers who contract for pork production.

More States to Take Up Possible Bans in 2024

Foreign-held farmland has become a hot button topic on Capitol Hill. Farm Journal Washington correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer thinks it will continue to gain momentum in 2024 as a political ploy used by candidates.

“It’s an emotional issue, and it’s not a simple issue either,” Wiesemeyer says. “I was recently in Missouri, and some commodity leaders worry about the negative consequences of going too far. No one’s saying China should not be watched relative to buying farmland near airports, national security is involved in that case, but more than a few farmers are looking at the potential downsides for pork producers who contract with Smithfield and the number of acres they own.”

One of those unintended consequences is playing out in Arkansas.

“I’m announcing Syngenta, a Chinese state-owned agrichemical company, must give up its landing holdings in Arkansas,” says Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, referencing a 160-acre research site owned by Northrup King Seed, a Syngenta subsidiary.

Eric Boeck, president of Syngenta Seeds North America, told Farm Journal editor Clinton Griffiths: “EPA and USDA many times require us to do work and permitting right in the same state as we’re going to sell products. One of the first things we have to make sure we figure out is how we work with the local community to make sure we’re still getting products tested in their backyard, so we have the ability to sell those products.”

(Farm Journal)

Syngenta argues if they sell that particular farm, Arkansas farmers will be at a disadvantage because research can’t be done in the same weather and soil conditions.

“We’re heavy in the soybean market in Arkansas, some of those maturity zones, we have a very significant market share and savings,” Boeck says. “We want to make sure we’re protecting those farmers’ abilities to be able to use our products.”

Wiesemeyer says the bigger issue for U.S. farmland might be solar panels, with farmers in states like Missouri reporting companies have offered to pay more than $1,000 per acre cash rent to put solar panels on their farm. At such a high price, he says it’s eating up acres of farmland, with the potential to grow even more in 2024.

John Phipps: Is the Outrage By Dutch Farmers Now Being Heard by the World Enough to Prevent Policy Changes?

Tue, 02 Aug 2022 22:15:26 GMT

As if record-breaking heat wasn’t enough to trigger tempers, Europe and especially the Netherlands have been dealing with an increasingly incendiary political situation pitting the country’s farmers against EU government plans to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030.

The major target is nitrous oxides, of which agriculture contributes about half. But Dutch farmers, who are an ag exporting power behind only the U.S., contend the efforts will force many producers out of business – perhaps as many as 30 percent. This may be conservative.

Protests, which began three years ago, have intensified with tractor blockades of major roads and city centers. In addition, farmers are demanding more positive media coverage, and predictably, more government aid.

Related news: Dutch Farmers Are Protesting A Government Policy Canada and Ireland are Now Proposing, Is The U.S. Next?

They also are pointing fingers of blame at other EU countries and companies like Shell and Tata Steel. Unusual for Europe, a few shots have been fired by police at protestors, but most demonstrations were relatively orderly, if angry. All this resentment and outrage by farmers faces two formidable hurdles to resolution.

The first is the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) whose large subsidies to agriculture has made them economically dependent. Now the series of heat waves which have been scorching the continent with growing frequency over the last two decades, is setting all-time records this summer across Europe.

With environmental political parties in the Greens possessing considerable clout, and not enough air-conditioning, public opinion has not been overwhelmingly sympathetic to farmers. Dutch farmers are noted for their professional and business skill, but due to their intense management, the carrying capacity for livestock like dairy cows in their country has likely been met or even exceeded. It’s why you see Dutch emigres operating all over the world, including the U.S.

While the Dutch protests have attracted the most attention, the EU emissions proposals threaten farmers across the bloc. Given the economics and politics of this debate, however, a difficult transition for producers seems inevitable.