U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) joined U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) recently to reintroduce the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure (AFIDA) Improvements Act to bolster reporting requirements for foreign owners of American farmland.
The legislation would codify recommendations to the original AFIDA of 1978, published in January 2024 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), after it found that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is not prepared to fully combat foreign ownership of American farmland by foreign adversaries.
According to USDA data from December 2023, foreign investors own more than 45 million acres of U.S. agricultural land. Alabama has the fourth-highest amount of foreign-owned land in the United States, with 2.2 million acres.
“Over the past several decades, China has been buying up American farmland in an attempt to infiltrate our agriculture supply chains,” said Tuberville. “Food security is national security, and we cannot give the CCP a foothold. Thankfully, President Trump and Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins are working to make American Farmland American Again. I’m proud to join this legislation with Senator Ricketts to update our reporting requirements for foreign purchases of our farmland for the first time in nearly 50 years. As Alabama’s voice on the Senate Ag Committee, I will always support our great farmers and work to protect them from bad actors like China.”
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