Sept. 27, 2021
Foreign ownership of U.S. farmland is focus of Oct. 20 webinar
By Will Clark
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Fast facts:
- National Agricultural Law Center webinar will discuss foreign ownership of farmland
- Webinar is Oct. 20 at noon-1 p.m. EDT/11-noon CDT
- Register online at: https://bit.ly/3nivh3y
(224 words)
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Several states have enacted laws or introduced legislation to limit foreign ownership of farmland in the United States. The National Agricultural Law Center will provide a status report on those laws during a webinar on Oct. 20.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, nearly 3 percent, or 35.2 million acres, of U.S. farmland is foreign-owned as of December 2019.
“Advocates say legislation limiting foreign ownership of farmland limits the ability of powerful economic competitors such as China and Brazil to have control over the U.S. food supply,” said Harrison Pittman, director of the National Agricultural Law Center. Pittman will present the webinar.
“This isn’t a new idea, because states began passing laws regulating the ownership of agricultural land as early as the 1920s and Congress passed the Foreign Investment Disclosure Act in 1978,” Pittman said. “In the federal law, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was tasked with collecting data on all farmland owned by international investors.”
“On Oct. 20, I look forward to sharing background on the issue of foreign ownership of ag land as well as bringing everyone up to speed,” Pittman said.
The webinar is scheduled for noon-1p.m. EDT/11 a.m.-noon CDT. Learn more and register for the webinar at https://bit.ly/3nivh3y.
For more information on the National Agricultural Law Center, visit https://nationalaglawcenter.org/ or follow @Nataglaw on Twitter.
About the National Agricultural Law Center
The National Agricultural Law Centerserves as the nation’s leading source of agricultural and food law research and information. The Center works with producers, state and federal policymakers, Congressional staffers, attorneys, land grant universities, and many others to provide objective, nonpartisan agricultural and food law research and information to the nation’s agricultural community.
The Center is a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and works in close partnership with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Agricultural Library.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is an equal opportunity institution. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate or need materials in another format, please contact 479-575-4607 as soon as possible. Dial 711 for Arkansas Relay.
# # #
Media Contact:
Will Clark
wwc001@uark.edu
479-899-2673