Is China really buying up U.S. farmland? Here’s what we found

State and national lawmakers are pushing to modulate overseas ownership of U.S. existent estate because of fears that Chinese entities are creating a nationalist information hazard by amassing swaths of U.S. farmland, immoderate of it adjacent delicate sites.

A reappraisal by NBC News of thousands of documents filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, however, shows precise fewer purchases by Chinese buyers successful the past twelvemonth and a fractional — less than 1,400 acres successful a state with 1.3 cardinal acres of cultivation land. In fact, the full magnitude of U.S. cultivation onshore owned by Chinese interests is little than three-hundredths of 1%.

But the reappraisal besides reveals a national oversight strategy successful which reporting of overseas ownership is lax and enforcement minimal.

Any overseas idiosyncratic oregon entity that buys oregon leases U.S. cultivation onshore is required by national law to study the transaction to the USDA wrong 90 days, yet immoderate were not reported for years — successful 1 case, much than 20 years. And successful that aforesaid clip period, nary 1 has been fined much than $121,000 for nonaccomplishment to marque specified a report.

NBC News was capable to review filings on foreign purchases and leases of cultivation land, meaning some workplace and forestry land, from 35 states since Jan. 1, 2022. The immense majority of the transactions were European upwind powerfulness companies leasing onshore from U.S. farmers to physique upwind turbines. One Italian upwind institution disclosed 40 caller leases of farmland in conscionable 1 agrarian Illinois county. The aforesaid institution had leases successful astatine slightest 4 different states.

In those 35 states, NBC News recovered 11 purchases by Chinese entities that had been reported to the USDA from Jan. 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023.

Several of the disclosures were not recent sales, and astatine slightest 1 was a repetition of a erstwhile disclosure. Another was not reported to the authorities till it had been revealed successful the media.

Smithfield Foods reported that it bought 186 acres successful 2022 and 2023 successful Missouri and North Carolina, adding to its existing U.S. portfolio of little than 128,000 acres, according to a institution spokesman. Formerly a U.S. owned company, Smithfield Foods was bought by a Chinese steadfast successful 2013.

"There are important issues to beryllium addressed betwixt the U.S. and China," said Jim Monroe, Smithfield's vice president of firm affairs. "Ownership of U.S. cultivation onshore is not 1 of them."

Syngenta Group filed six disclosures of a full of 772 acres dispersed crossed Iowa, Florida and California, but the purchases had already been reported to the USDA erstwhile they were made nether the company's erstwhile owner, a Swiss company. Syngenta was bought by a Chinese steadfast successful 2017. 

Saswato Das, a spokesperson for Syngenta, told NBC News the institution owns oregon leases a full of 6,000 acres successful the U.S.

Das said that Syngenta uses a "significant portion" of its U.S. onshore for probe connected its products that is required by the USDA oregon the Environmental Protection Agency. The agencies necessitate that the institution trial the seeds and chemicals it plans to sell. "All of these activities are conducted connected fields and farms successful the U.S. to payment American farmers," said Das.

A Hong Kong institution that had bought 365 acres successful North Dakota did not disclose its purchases to the USDA until CNBC revealed national information concerns had been raised astir the land's proximity to Grand Forks Air Force Base. 

After CNBC wrote that the purchases by Fufeng USA were raising alarms in Washington, a section USDA authoritative contacted the institution to inquire astir disclosure of overseas ownership, according to USDA filings reviewed by NBC News. 

Two weeks aboriginal the institution complied, filing disclosures showing it had made 3 purchases for a full of $9.5 cardinal to physique a "wet maize milling biofermentation plant."

Eric Chutorash, main operating serviceman of Fufeng USA, dismissed concerns the works could beryllium utilized to spy connected the Air Force base.

"I can't ideate anyone that we prosecute that's going to adjacent bash that," Chutorash said. When asked if helium could definitively accidental it wouldn't beryllium utilized for espionage, helium responded, "Absolutely." 

Historically lone astir 3.1%, oregon 40 cardinal acres, of the nation's 1.3 cardinal acres of cultivation onshore has been owned by foreigners. Almost fractional of the foreign-owned onshore is forest. USDA records amusement that a 3rd of the 40 cardinal foreign-owned acres are held by Canadian interests, portion Chinese interests clasp little than 400,000 acres.

But the stock of cultivation onshore owned by overseas interests is increasing, according to the USDA's Farm Service Agency, and the gait astatine which the overseas stock is increasing has besides risen. While it grew by an mean of 800,000 acres yearly from 2011 to 2015, it roseate 2.2 cardinal acres per twelvemonth from 2015 to 2021. 

In the sanction of nationalist security, members of Congress person called for tougher laws to regulate foreign onshore purchases, criticizing existing efforts by the USDA to constabulary disclosure.

Over the past 10 years conscionable six companies person faced penalties for precocious filings or failing to file, according to USDA data.

Two Canadian firms were penalized for precocious filings successful 2013. A Swedish institution was fined a twelvemonth later. After that determination were nary penalties until a Japanese steadfast was fined successful 2019.

In 2021 2 Chinese entities were unneurotic fined much than $135,000 for failing to disclose their purchases of much than 130,000 acres on the confederate U.S. borderline successful Texas much than 20 years earlier.

The penalty letter that the USDA sent to 1 of the firms, Brazos Highland Properties LP, shows that the institution filed its disclosure 8,017 days late. The authorities said successful its missive that fixed the agelong hold the archetypal magnitude of the projected good had been $21 million, but that the bureau decided to trim it to $120,216.38. That sharply reduced magnitude was the largest good the bureau had imposed successful 20 years.

The 2 companies, Harvest Texas and Brazos Highland, paid their reduced fines 3 months later, according to USDA documents. They besides abandoned plans for a upwind workplace connected the onshore aft significant local opposition.

The members of Congress who privation to tighten controls connected overseas ownership accidental its existent scope is hard to gauge erstwhile enforcement is lacking.

In precocious July, the Senate passed a prohibition connected China, Russia, North Korea and Iran buying American cultivation land, but it's unclear if the amendment volition marque it into the last defence spending measure that volition spell to a ballot successful Congress this fall.

One of the sponsors of the amendment, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has besides projected adding the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture caput to behaviour oversight of overseas purchases to guarantee that reporting is timely and accurate, arsenic welling arsenic adding USDA unit to show purchases. She besides proposes that immoderate acquisition oregon lease by a overseas entity that exceeds 320 acres oregon onshore valued astatine much than $5 cardinal beryllium taxable to review.

In a statement, Ernst said, "Any acre of onshore that the Chinese Communist Party tin usage against the United States is simply a menace that indispensable beryllium taken seriously. We person already witnessed the information their malign power poses successful our backyard arsenic they bought captious onshore adjacent our subject installations. We request to bolster the instrumentality due to the fact that currently, USDA is not afloat capable to enforce oregon constabulary overseas investment.

"That's wherefore I'm moving crossed the aisle with Democrats to support our agriculture information that would necessitate CFIUS [Committee connected Foreign Investment successful the United States] to bash its job, modernize USDA's process to support our onshore against our adversaries, and guarantee China cannot usage immoderate loophole against us."