FARMLAND Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill requires congressional findings on national security threats from Chinese agricultural investments, requires all entities involved in agricultural land transactions (buyers, sellers, real estate agents, brokers, title companies) to conduct due diligence and certify compliance with AFIDA, and requires Secretary of Agriculture, with DHS and other agencies, to submit annual reports to Congress on national security risks of farmland ownership by foreign persons from China, Russia, and state sponsors. It relies on compliance mandates, reporting requirements, exemptions, and appropriations. The main policy areas are Agriculture, Foreign Policy, Finance, and Technology.
Who Benefits and How
USDA enforcement and database programs could gain revenue opportunities, USDA enforcement personnel could gain revenue opportunities, and U.S. farmers competing for land could face fewer barriers.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Secretary of Agriculture would take on compliance duties, Foreign persons owning U.S. farmland could lose revenue opportunities, and Foreign investors in U.S. agricultural land would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Requires congressional findings on national security threats from Chinese agricultural investments.
- Requires all entities involved in agricultural land transactions (buyers, sellers, real estate agents, brokers, title companies) to conduct due diligence and certify compliance with AFIDA.
- Requires Secretary of Agriculture, with DHS and other agencies, to submit annual reports to Congress on national security risks of farmland ownership by foreign persons from China, Russia, and state sponsors...
- Creates Chief of Operations of Investigative Actions position at USDA to monitor AFIDA compliance, investigate agricultural espionage and IP theft, coordinate with DOJ/FBI/DHS/Treasury, conduct database audits...
- Establishes detailed duties for Chief of Operations position: compliance monitoring, noncompliance referrals, coordinated investigations with federal law enforcement, database audits, MOAs/MOUs with other agencies...
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill requires congressional findings on national security threats from Chinese agricultural investments, requires all entities involved in agricultural land transactions (buyers, sellers, real estate agents, brokers, title companies) to conduct due diligence and certify compliance with AFIDA, and requires Secretary of Agriculture, with DHS and other agencies, to submit annual reports to Congress on national security risks of farmland ownership by foreign persons from China, Russia, and state sponsors.
Key Policy Areas
Agriculture, Foreign Policy, Finance, Technology
Primary Purpose
The bill requires congressional findings on national security threats from Chinese agricultural investments, requires all entities involved in agricultural land transactions (buyers, sellers, real estate agents, brokers, title companies) to conduct due diligence and certify compliance with AFIDA, and requires Secretary of Agriculture, with DHS and other agencies, to submit annual reports to Congress on national security risks of farmland ownership by foreign persons from China, Russia, and state sponsors.
Policy Domains
Amendments to Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act
Identified Gains
- USDA enforcement and database programs
- USDA enforcement personnel
- U.S. farmers competing for land
- U.S. citizen farmers
- Federal contractors building databases/secure facilities
Identified Costs
- Secretary of Agriculture
- Foreign persons owning U.S. farmland
- Foreign investors in U.S. agricultural land
- Foreign entities of concern purchasing U.S. farmland
- Foreign entities of concern acquiring farmland
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeReferred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture.
Mr. Feenstra (for himself, Ms. McDonald Rivet, Mr. Taylor, Mr. …
Referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to …
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Chief of Operations of Investigative Actions, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, Congressional oversight committees
Positive-direction: Congressional oversight committees, USDA enforcement and database programs, USDA enforcement personnel
Negative-direction: Chief of Operations of Investigative Actions, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, Department of Homeland Security, FBI agricultural crime investigations, Farm Service Agency, Secretary of Agriculture, USDA Farm Service Agency, USDA and DHS (database development)
Chinese government-linked agricultural investors, Chinese investors in U.S. farmland, Chinese, Russian investors in U.S. farmland
Agricultural land brokers, Foreign investors in U.S. agricultural land, Real estate agents specializing in agricultural land
U.S. citizen farmers, U.S. farmers competing for land
Federal contractors building databases/secure facilities
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "cfius"
- → Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Agriculture
- "chief_of_operations"
- → Chief of Operations of Investigative Actions (USDA)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
As defined in section 9901 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (15 U.S.C. 4651)
Any hostile effort undertaken by, at the direction of, on behalf of, or with the substantial support of the government of a foreign entity of concern
People's Republic of China, Russian Federation, state sponsors of terrorism, and any other country identified by Secretary of Homeland Security or Secretary of Agriculture
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology