Pointing at China, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds asked state lawmakers for stronger enforcement of laws that limit foreign ownership of farmland. “Let’s make sure that American soil remains in American hands,” she said during an annual address to the legislature.
Reynolds said that she and Mike Naig, the state agriculture secretary, had “developed a bill to further protect our farmland from foreign interests. This legislation will enhance reporting and enforcement, increase penalties, and provide more transparency to Iowans on what land is currently under foreign ownership.” Iowa has strong land ownership laws, said the governor. “China continues to grow more aggressive, and buying American land has been one of the many ways they have waged this new battle.”
The new legislation would require foreign entities to provide additional information on annual reports to state officials, including a list of all their landholdings in the United States; increase the financial penalty for failing to report ownership or filing false information; and allow the attorney general’s office to subpoena information about land ownership, “ensuring bad actors are exposed and held accountable,” said the governor’s office.
Nearly 514,000 acres of Iowa farmland was under foreign ownership in 2022, or less than 2 percent of agricultural land in the state, said the Cedar Rapids Gazette. It said foreign ownership was expected to be a hot topic for state lawmakers this year. “More than 90 percent of foreign investment in Iowa farmland is for long-term leases — not land purchases — for wind projects,” said the newspaper.