This land is our land? Foreigners buying more American farmland

During the last election cycle, we all heard a lot of talk about foreign ownership of American farmland. It wasn’t just campaign chatter — foreign investors really do own a sizable amount of U.S. agricultural land, and they’ve held onto it for years.

Questions and concerns about foreign countries owning U.S. land did not start recently nor will they end anytime soon. In fact, as a senior at Western Illinois University in 1984, I wrote a paper on foreign ownership of U.S. farmland.

According to a 2023 report from the American Farm Bureau Federation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, foreign entities now own nearly 46 million acres of U.S. farmland.

That is about 3.6% of all privately held farmland in the country — and it’s up by more than 1.5 million acres just since last year.

So, who exactly owns all that land? Turns out, Canada leads the pack by a long shot, holding over 15 million acres. After that, it’s investors from the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany.

And here is something interesting: much of that land is not being used to grow crops or raise livestock — it is being developed for renewable energy projects like wind and solar farms.

Why? Well, many European countries have strict climate targets but not enough open space to build the clean energy projects they need. So, they are turning to the United States, where land is more available and the investment climate is more stable.

Of course, not everyone is comfortable with this. Many of us are asking important questions: What happens when farmland is turned into fields of solar panels? Are we trading food production for energy?

And then there is the national security angle. Understandably, there is a lot more concern when land is bought up by entities from countries like China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, or Venezuela.

I don’t know anyone who is thrilled with the idea of those governments owning American farmland, let alone land near our military bases or other sensitive sites.

The good news? Land from those countries makes up a tiny sliver — less than 0.03% — of all U.S. farmland, and Chinese ownership has actually dropped by 27% since its 2021 peak.

Still, there are some serious holes in the data. Ownership is self-reported, and until recently there was not much enforcement. That is changing, though — the USDA handed out record fines in 2024 for late or missing filings.

The picture also varies by state. Texas has the most foreign-owned farmland, about 5.7 million acres, much of it tied to timber and wind.

Maine has the highest percentage, with over 21% of its farmland foreign-owned. Hawaii also stands out due to clean energy investments.

Bottom line? This is a complicated, evolving issue. Although most foreign-held land is owned by allies, we still need to keep an eye on who is buying what — and where — to protect our food supply, national security and the future of American agriculture.