Farmland Security Act of 2025
Farmland Security Act of 2025
Plain Language Summary
# Farmland Security Act of 2025 - Plain Language Summary **What the Bill Would Do:** This bill aims to strengthen U.S. oversight of foreign ownership of American farmland. Currently, foreign investors must report their purchases of agricultural land to the USDA, but violations carry relatively small penalties (capped at 25% of the land's value). The Farmland Security Act would allow the USDA to impose much larger penalties for violations, and would impose maximum penalties (100% of the land's value) on foreign shell corporations—companies created to hide the true foreign owner's identity. **Who It Affects:** The bill primarily targets foreign investors and foreign-owned companies that buy or hold U.S.
farmland. It also affects the USDA, which would gain broader authority to enforce disclosure rules and conduct research on foreign agricultural investment trends. American farmers and agricultural companies are indirectly affected as the bill aims to protect domestic farmland from undisclosed foreign acquisition. **Current Status:** The bill was introduced by Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) and is currently in committee, meaning it has not yet been debated or voted on by the full Senate. It would need to pass committee review and secure support from lawmakers before advancing further in the legislative process.
CRS Official Summary
Farmland Security Act of 2025This bill authorizes increased civil penalties for violations of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA) and increases Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversight of and research into foreign investment in agricultural land. As background, AFIDA and the regulations that implemented the act require foreign investors who acquire, transfer, or hold an interest in U.S. agricultural land to report such holdings and transactions to USDA.In general, the bill allows USDA to determine an appropriate civil penalty amount for an AFIDA violation by removing the cap that currently prohibits the civil penalty from exceeding 25% of the fair market value of the interest in the agricultural land associated with the violation.Under an exception in the bill, the civil penalty for a foreign-owned shell corporation is 100% of the fair market value of the interest in the agricultural land. The bill defines a shell corporation to include a company, association, firm, partnership, society, joint stock company, trust, or estate that has no or nominal operations. The penalty does not apply if the shell corporation remedies a defective filing or failure to file within 60 days of USDA providing notice.USDA must conduct annual compliance audits of at least 10% of the reports. Further, USDA must provide state and county-level personnel certain annual training.USDA must also annually conduct research and submit a report to Congress on foreign investment in agricultural land, including trends in the purchase of U.S. agricultural land by foreign-owned shell corporations.
Latest Action
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.