Foreign investors represent 3.5% ownership of U.S. ag land

WASHINGTON — Indiana and Iowa saw year-over-year decreases in foreign ownership of agricultural acres while Illinois increased, according a new report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency recently released is findings in its Foreign Investment in U.S. Ag Land report.

The report revealed a 1.58-million-acre increase in foreign-held agricultural land in the United States between 2022 and 2023, driven primarily by investments linked to renewable energy projects. The data also showed a decrease in acreage owned by Chinese-based entities.

‘I’ States

There were 18,054,212 acres of agricultural land in Indiana in 2023, including 416,406, or 2.3%, foreign-owned in 2023, a 22,470-acre reduction from 2022.

Indiana’s White County had the most foreign-owned agricultural and non-agricultural land at 76,839 acres, most of which, at 75,326, were under the “all others” countries of origin category.

Illinois had 29,675,986 acres of agricultural land in 2023. Of that, 810,257, or 2.7%, were foreign investor-owned, a 14,371-acre growth from 2022.

McLean County led all Illinois counties in total foreign-owned agricultural and nonagricultural land with 173,725 acres, including 78,945 acres owned by Canadian investors; United Kingdom, 32,092; Italy, 20,677; Germany, 2,047; and all others, 39,964.

Iowa had 33,954,228 agricultural acres in 2023, 485,836, or 1.5%, were foreign-owned, 28,146 acres less than the previous year.

Poweshiek County, Iowa, had the most foreign-owned land at 45,178 acres, 44,984 of which were owned by investors from Italy.

Nationwide

Foreign investors held an interest in nearly 45 million acres of U.S. agricultural land, both forest land and farmland, as of Dec. 31, 2023.

This is an increase of 1.58 million acres from the Dec. 31, 2022, report and represents 3.5% of all privately held agricultural land in the United States.

These and other findings are based on information submitted to the USDA in compliance with the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978.

Forest land accounted for 48% of all reported foreign-held acreage, cropland for 29%, pasture and other agricultural land for 21% and nonagricultural land for 2%.

Foreign holdings of U.S. agricultural land increased modestly from 2013 through 2017, increasing an average of 0.6 million acres per year.

Since 2017, foreign holdings have increased an average of nearly 2.6 million acres annually, ranging from 1.5 million acres to over 3.4 million acres per year.

All categories increased between 2013 and 2023, led by foreign ownership gains in cropland.

During this time period, cropland increased 146% from roughly 5.4 million to 13.2 million acres, forest land increased 60% from roughly 13.7 million to 22 million acres and pasture land increased 32% from approximately 5.8 million acres to nearly 7.7 million acres.

The changes in pasture and cropland are mostly due to foreign-owned wind companies signing, as well as terminating, long-term leases on a large number of acres.

The actual amount of land used by a wind farm is relatively low due to the small footprint of the wind turbines and limited use of access roads. This leaves most of the parcel available for agricultural use.

Texas has the largest amount of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land with over 5.6 million acres. Maine has the second largest amount of foreign-held agricultural acres, with just under 3.5 million. Colorado has the third largest amount of foreign-held agricultural land with 2.5 million acres.

The majority of foreign-held agricultural land in Texas and Maine consists of forest land, while cropland is most important in Colorado.

In terms of percentages, about 21.1% of Maine’s privately held agricultural land is held by foreign investors. This is approximately 8% of the reported foreign-held agricultural land in the United States.

Hawaii has the second largest percentage of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land, which is 17.1% of the privately held agricultural land in the state, and less than 1% of the reported foreign-held agricultural land in the United States.

Michigan, at 8.5%, Louisiana, at 8.4%, and Florida, at 8.2%, have the next largest percentages of reported foreign-held agricultural land.

States showing the largest increases in foreign-held agricultural acres in 2023 were New Mexico, with an increase of over 358,000 acres; Texas with an increase of over 219,000 acres; and Arkansas, with an increase of over 178,000 acres.

Fifty percent of the overall increase in acreage between 2022 and 2023 is attributed to these three states.

Country Of Origin

Canadian investors own the largest amount of reported foreign-held agricultural and nonagricultural land, with 33%, or 15.3 million acres.

Foreign persons from an additional four countries — the Netherlands, 11%; Italy, 6%; United Kingdom, 6%; and Germany, 5% — collectively held 13 million acres, or 28%, of the foreign-held acres in the United States.

The remaining 17.4 million acres, or 38% of all reported foreign-held agricultural and nonagricultural land, are held by various other countries. For example, China held 277,336 acres, which is slightly less than 1% of foreign-held acres.

The states with the largest Chinese holdings are Texas, at 123,708 acres; North Carolina, at 44,263 acres; Missouri, at 42,905 acres; Utah, at 33,035 acres; and Florida, at 12,798 acres.

Together, these five states had 93% of the acreage associated with Chinese filings. In Texas, in particular, long-term leases associated with wind energy investment predominate, while land ownership tends to be more common in other states.