'American Soil' Is Increasingly Foreign Owned--starting to be a concern

[riversedge]

'American Soil' Is Increasingly Foreign Owned

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/27/723501793/american-soil-is-increasingly-foreign-owned?utm_source=pocket-newtab
4:21


May 27, 20194:17 PM ET


American soil.

Those are two words that are commonly used to stir up patriotic feelings. They are also words that can't be taken for granted, because today nearly 30 million acres of U.S. farmland are held by foreign investors. That number has doubled in the past two decades, which is raising alarm bells in farming communities.

When the stock market tanked during the past recession, foreign investors began buying up big swaths of U.S. farmland. And because there are no federal restrictions on the amount of land that can be foreign owned, it's been left up to individual states to decide on any limitations.

It's likely that even more American land will end up in foreign hands, especially in states with no restrictions on ownership. With the median age of U.S. farmers at 55, many face retirement with no prospect of family members willing to take over. The National Young Farmers Coalition anticipates that two-thirds of the nation's farmland will change hands in the next few decades.

"Texas is kind of a free-for-all, so they don't have a limit on how much land can be owned," say's Ohio Farm Bureau's Ty Higgins. "You look at Iowa and they restrict it — no land in Iowa is owned by a foreign entity."
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Ohio, like Texas, also has no restrictions, and nearly half a million acres of prime farmland are held by foreign-owned entities. In the northwestern corner of the state, below Toledo, companies from the Netherlands alone have purchased 64,000 acres for wind farms.

There are two counties in this region with the highest concentration of foreign-owned farmland — more than 41,000 acres each. One of those is Paulding County, where three wind farms straddle the Ohio-Indiana line.

Once a foreign entity buys up however many acres they want, Americans might never be able to secure that land again. So, once we lose it, we may lose it for good.



Higgins says that this kind of consumption of farmland by foreign entities is starting to cause concern. "One of the main reasons that we're watching this ... is because once a foreign entity buys up however many acres they want, Americans might never be able to secure that land again. So, once we lose it, we may lose it for good."

His other concern is that every acre of productive farmland that is converted over to something other than agriculture is an acre of land that no longer produces food. That loss is felt from the state level all the way down to rural communities, where one in six Ohioans has ties to agriculture.................................

[EarnestPutz]

1. "Companies from the Netherlands alone have purchased 64,000 acres for wind farms"....

...and the conservative, Trump supporting farmers of Ohio are just fine with that? Alternative energy is wonderful if someone else is doing it and they make a bundle on (literally) "selling the farm". Other than that it's "drill, baby, drill" ?

[SCantiGOP]

2. Nothing to worry about. We can't "lose" any land

I remember the hysteria when Japan bought Rockefeller Center in NYC several decades ago.
The property stays in the US, subject to our laws and control and paying our taxes. What is the problem about who is listed as the owner?

[Karadeniz]

3. Ive never understood our lack of control over land ownership or usage. Freedom.

[BeckyDem]

4. Same here. We have iconic real estate in NYC that belongs to a rich guy in China and

now that their government charged him with white collar crimes they seized his assets.

There is prime NYC real estate that belongs to Russian oligarchs. I find that crazy.