Over the last couple of months, Governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Doug Burgum of North Dakota signed bills banning foreign governments (and foreign individuals associated with those governments) from buying agricultural land. They are among two dozen states that have passed or are considering such legislation, reports Blaise Malley in Responsible Statecraft.
But according to estimates by the US Department of Agriculture, foreign entities own only three percent of privately held U.S. farmland.
Despite rhetoric against the Communist Party of China, the rapid increase in land ownership by wealthy individuals, investment funds, and corporations is the real threat, say some activists. “Our concern is really focused on the corporatization of agricultural land, and the impacts and implications of that for local food systems for farmer livelihoods,” Malley quotes Jordan Treakle of the National Family Farm Coalition as saying.
