LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The expansion of renewable energy projects led to a growth in foreign ownership of agricultural land in the U.S. from 2022 to 2023, while at the same time the amount of ag land owned by Chinese investors dropped, according to a new analysis of U.S. data by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).
In addition, AFBF said as foreign ownership continued to grow, the USDA in 2024 imposed a record $1.2 million in penalties on foreign entities that failed to report purchases, sales and interests in U.S. ag land via Form 153 submitted to the Farm Service Agency.
Overall, the new analysis found a 1.58-million-acre increase in foreign-owned agriculture land in the U.S. from 2022 to 2023.
"There has been significant interest in U.S. agricultural land owned by Chinese investors," the AFBF said in its analysis.
"In 2023, 277,336 acres were linked to Chinese investors -- 0.02% of all privately held U.S. agricultural land. This marks a 106,599-acre (27%) decline from the 2021 peak of 383,935 acres."
RENEWABLE ENERGY EXPANSION
AFBF took a closer look at what federal data shows about investments in ag land for renewable energy development, focusing particularly on long-term leases of 10 years or more.
"Since 2010, foreign renewable energy investments in U.S. agricultural land have increased by at least 10.4 million acres -- a 353% rise -- accounting for nearly half of the 21-million-acre total increase in foreign-owned ag land during this period," the AFBF said.
From 2018 to 2023, AFBF said the trend "intensified" with renewable energy entities including those developing solar and wind energy "driving 76% of the total growth in foreign-owned agricultural land."
Such entities contributed 7.55 million acres out of the 9.96-million-acre increase.
"Between 2022 and 2023 alone, entities with renewable energy-related terms in their names accounted for 54% of the 1.58-million-acre increase," AFBF said.
"Canadian investors accounted for the largest share at 5.5 million acres, followed by Italian investors with 2.57 million acres and Portuguese investors with 1.2 million acres."
MOST CROPLAND USED FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY
Of the land used for renewable energy in 2023, AFBF said it found that 70% of the acreage was cropland, 22% classified as pastureland, 6% as other agricultural land and the remaining 2% as forestland. Based on a keyword search of federal data, 84% of acres were associated with entities linked to wind energy, AFBF said.
As a result of recent focus on foreign ag land ownership by Congress, 2023 saw a record number of federal reports filed including a 5% increase compared to 2022.
The AFBF said federal data shows that 45.85 million acres of U.S. agricultural land were held by foreign investors in 2023, or 3.61% of total privately held agricultural land in the U.S.
Since 2021, according to the AFBF, foreign ownership in U.S. ag land grew by 12.2%.
"Canadian investors own the largest portion of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land with 33.5% (15.35 million acres) of the total and 1.21% of all U.S. agricultural land," AFBF said.
Investors from the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany own a combined 12 million acres of U.S. ag land.
In 2023, 21.9 million acres of reported foreign-held agricultural land was forestland, followed by 13.2 million acres of cropland and 7.7 million acres of pastureland.
"Over the past five years (between 2018 and 2023), foreign investments in U.S. agricultural land have seen growth across all categories: a 101% increase in cropland, 28% in forestland, 15% in pastureland and 38% in other agricultural land," AFBF said.
TEXAS LEADS WAY IN FOREIGN OWNERSHIP
Texas is reported to have the largest quantity of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land at 5.7 million acres, making up 3.6% of the state's 158 million acres of privately held agricultural land.
"Maine has the second-largest quantity of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land at 3.5 million acres but leads for highest proportion of foreign-held ag acreage with over 21% of the state's 16.5 million acres of ag land being held by foreign investors," AFBF said.
In both states foreign ownership is primarily driven by forest products and timber companies.
AFBF said 42 states saw increases in foreign-owned ag land, led by New Mexico at 358,149 acres and then Texas at 223,165 acres. Alabama, Michigan, Indiana, Montana and Iowa all reported declines, with Alabama leading the way with a reduction of 158,068 acres.
When it comes to ag land owned by foreign adversaries of the U.S., AFBF said the amount of ag land owned by them fell in 2023.
Those adversaries have been identified as China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuelan politician Nicolas Maduro.
"Together, these investors own 370,727 acres, representing three hundredths of 1% (0.03%) of all privately held agricultural land in the U.S.," AFBF said, "roughly the size of an average county in Ohio."
From 2022 to 2023, acreage linked to Russian investors declined by 52 acres, according to the analysis, Iranian investors by 1,325 acres and Chinese investors by 34,272 acres, while acreage linked to Venezuelan and Cuban investors remained unchanged.
"The increase observed between 2012 and 2013 is primarily tied to the acquisition of a U.S.-based meat processing company, which now accounts for nearly half of all Chinese investor-held acreage," AFBF said.
"The subsequent decline between 2021 and 2023 stems from two key factors: a reduction in holdings by a Chinese billionaire who had invested in southwest Texas for a renewable energy project and the USDA's reclassification of acreage originally attributed to Chinese investors but later confirmed to be owned by a U.S. land asset management company with operations in Chinese markets."
AFBF found that between 2022 and 2023, Chinese investors held at least 1 acre of agricultural land in 147 of 3,244 counties across the U.S.
"Of these, 38 counties experienced a decline in Chinese investor-owned acreage, with 29 counties seeing a 100% reduction in holdings," AFBF said.
"Conversely, 10 counties recorded an increase in Chinese investor-owned acreage, while the remaining 99 counties saw no change."
Read more on DTN:
"Land Investments Hold Long-Term Value," https://www.dtnpf.com/…
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
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