The Department of Agriculture has failed to adequately and reliably provide information on foreign investments into agricultural land purchases to relevant agencies, according to a new government report.
Specifically, the authors of a new Government Accountability Office report released on Thursday concluded that USDA does not share timely information regarding foreign investments in land with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or CFIUS, agencies, which include the Department of Defense and Department of the Treasury. CFIUS is an interagency effort that reviews certain foreign transactions to determine potential effects on U.S. national security.
The GAO found that USDA needs to “collect, track, and share the data better,” which could be done if they develop a real-time data system, while the Pentagon noted it needs more “specific and timely data.”
Foreign investment in U.S. agricultural land grew to about 40 million acres in 2021, according to estimates from USDA.
The report includes six recommendations, five of which USDA agreed with and one they only partially supported. They include the creation of a process for USDA to provide detailed and timely information to CFIUS members; the Farm Service Agency administrator clarifying and specifying instruction to headquarters and county employees for completing Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 responsibilities; the leaders of the FSA and the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center to jointly complete an analysis to determine their ability to satisfy the requirements of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, among others.
The concerns about foreign landowners largely revolve around China. House Republicans have repeatedly urged the Biden administration to investigate the “national security threat” posed by China’s purchasing of American farmland. Lawmakers have also urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to do more about the issue.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in 2022 that “foreign-owned land near military installations may require additional monitoring” and warned that “as more Chinese investors purchase land, including for agricultural use, CFIUS has an opportunity to safeguard vital military assets.”
Chinese investors owned just 69,295 acres of American land at the end of 2011, according to the USDA, but by the end of 2021, Chinese investors controlled 383,935 acres.
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Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), a member of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition with the Chinese Communist Party, reacted to the report, saying it “confirms one of our worst fears: that not only is the USDA unable to answer the question of who owns what land and where, but that there is no plan by the department to internally reverse this dangerous flaw that affects our supply chain and economy.”
The Washington lawmaker also said he will “be working to introduce measures aimed at fixing USDA’s internal reporting and data management to identify to Congress, and the American people, exactly who is investing in the over 40 million acres of U.S. farmland reported to have ties to foreign actors.”
