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Michigan Farm Bureau Family of Companies

DISCUSS: Foreign ownership of American farmland

Roughly 1.35 million acres of Michigan ag land is held by foreign investors, nearly 90% of it in forests.
Date Posted: October 28, 2021

One common topic that comes up at almost any meeting we attend is foreign ownership of land in the United States. After doing some digging what we found is that, foreign investors held an interest in nearly 35.2 million acres of U.S. agricultural land as of Dec. 31, 2019. This includes both forest land and farm ground.

Foreign ownership accounts for roughly 2.7 percent of all privately held ag land in the United States.  To put all this in perspective, the U.S. has just under 900 million acres of total farmland and private entities (not states or the federal government) own and manage roughly 445 million acres of forestland.

When you look more closely at the data you find that forest land accounted for 49 percent of all reported foreign-held acreage, cropland for 25 percent, pasture and other agricultural land for 24 percent, and non-agricultural land for 2 percent. Foreign holdings of U.S. agricultural land increased slightly from 2009 through 2015, increasing an average of 0.8 million per year. However, since 2015 foreign holdings have increased an average of nearly 2.3 million acres annually.

Our neighbors to the north in Canada own the largest amount of reported foreign-held agricultural and non-agricultural land, with 10.5 million acres. Foreign investors from the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom own a combined 11.7 million acres with the remaining 13.6 million acres being owned by investors from various other countries. Chinese owners account for about 192,000 acres of farmland.

Here in Michigan, roughly 1.35 million acres of ag land is held by foreign investors and nearly 90% of this land is in forests. Investors from the Netherlands own 33% of that land with Canadians owning 25%. The counties with the most total acres of foreign-owned ag land are Keweenaw, Baraga and Alger. In these counties most of the foreign-owned land is in forests. The counties with the most acres of foreign-owned cropland are Gratiot (42,748 acres), Lenawee (23,673 acres), Shiawassee (20,836 acres) and Huron (17,484 acres).

Land grabbing by foreign entities is not necessarily an immediate threat to food security in the United States, but it has the potential to become a bigger threat if land sales continue to increase and if foreign investors continue to buy available farmland.

Theresa Sisung is Michigan Farm Bureau’s field crops specialist. Thanks to the Kirk's Farm Bureau Community Group in Livingston County for suggesting this topic.

 

QUESTIONS

  1. What sort of balance does there need to be between allowing the free market to decide who makes land purchases and protecting our country’s ability to feed the world?
  2. What are the risks and what are the possible benefits of foreign investment into US ag land?
  3. What can U.S. farmers do to remain viable and compete against foreign investors in land purchases?
  4. What can be done to help farmers pass their land on to the next generation or to other farmers, instead of selling it to foreign entities?

TO RESPOND:

  • Email: [email protected]
  • Postal mail: MFB Community Group Discussion, ATTN: Michelle Joseph, 7373 W. Saginaw Hwy., Lansing, MI 48909
  • Don’t forget to include your name and CAG affiliation!
Theresa Sisung headshot

Theresa Sisung

Industry Relations Specialist
517-323-6729 [email protected]