FARMLAND Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill defines congressional findings establishing that foreign investment in U.S. agriculture poses national security risks, particularly from China, and that existing oversight is inadequate, requires all entities involved in agricultural land transactions (buyers, sellers, agents, brokers, title companies) to conduct due diligence and certify compliance with the Act, and requires annual reports on agricultural land purchasing by China, Russia, state sponsors of terrorism, and other covered countries; defines key terms including covered foreign country and covered foreign person. It relies on compliance mandates, reporting requirements, definition changes, and trade restrictions. The main policy areas are Agriculture, Foreign Policy, Finance, and Technology.
Who Benefits and How
USDA implementation and security infrastructure could gain revenue opportunities, Federal contractors for database and secure facilities could gain revenue opportunities, and U.S. agricultural technology companies could face reduced risk.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Foreign persons operating U.S. farms could lose revenue opportunities, Foreign entities of concern seeking U.S. agricultural land could face higher barriers, and USDA and DHS database development teams would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Defines congressional findings establishing that foreign investment in U.S. agriculture poses national security risks, particularly from China, and that existing oversight is inadequate.
- Requires all entities involved in agricultural land transactions (buyers, sellers, agents, brokers, title companies) to conduct due diligence and certify compliance with the Act.
- Requires annual reports on agricultural land purchasing by China, Russia, state sponsors of terrorism, and other covered countries; defines key terms including covered foreign country and covered foreign person.
- Amends Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act to create Chief of Operations position at USDA to investigate foreign agricultural threats, coordinate with FBI/DHS/DOJ, and refer transactions to CFIUS.
- Requires details the duties of the Chief of Operations including monitoring compliance, conducting investigations on agricultural espionage, auditing the foreign land database, and publishing annual reports.
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 defines congressional findings establishing that foreign investment in U.S. agriculture poses national security risks, particularly from China, and that existing oversight is inadequate, requires all entities involved in agricultural land transactions (buyers, sellers, agents, brokers, title companies) to conduct due diligence and certify compliance with the Act, and requires annual reports on agricultural land purchasing by China, Russia, state sponsors of terrorism, and other covered countries; defines key terms including covered foreign country and covered foreign person.
Key Policy Areas
Agriculture, Foreign Policy, Finance, Technology
Primary Purpose
The bill defines congressional findings establishing that foreign investment in U.S. agriculture poses national security risks, particularly from China, and that existing oversight is inadequate, requires all entities involved in agricultural land transactions (buyers, sellers, agents, brokers, title companies) to conduct due diligence and certify compliance with the Act, and requires annual reports on agricultural land purchasing by China, Russia, state sponsors of terrorism, and other covered countries; defines key terms including covered foreign country and covered foreign person.
Policy Domains
FARMLAND Act of 2025
Identified Gains
- USDA implementation and security infrastructure
- Federal contractors for database and secure facilities
- U.S. agricultural technology companies
- U.S. farmers and agricultural producers
- U.S. citizen farmers
Identified Costs
- Foreign persons operating U.S. farms
- Foreign entities of concern seeking U.S. agricultural land
- USDA and DHS database development teams
- Title companies processing agricultural land transfers
- Secretary of Agriculture
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMs. Ernst (for herself, Ms. Slotkin, Mr. Fetterman, and Mr. …
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
CFIUS and Treasury Department, Congressional oversight committees, Department of Agriculture
Positive-direction: Congressional oversight committees, National security agencies (FBI, DHS, DOJ), USDA implementation and security infrastructure
Negative-direction: CFIUS and Treasury Department, Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Agriculture and reporting staff, USDA Chief of Operations and investigative staff, USDA and DHS database development teams
Foreign entities attempting agricultural IP theft, Foreign entities of concern seeking U.S. agricultural land, Foreign investors from China, Russia, and covered countries
Foreign persons operating U.S. farms, U.S. citizen farmers, U.S. farmers and agricultural producers
Positive-direction: U.S. citizen farmers, U.S. farmers and agricultural producers
Negative-direction: Foreign persons operating U.S. farms
Buyers and sellers of agricultural land, Domestic agricultural land buyers, Real estate agents and brokers handling agricultural land
Positive-direction: Domestic agricultural land buyers
Negative-direction: Buyers and sellers of agricultural land, Real estate agents and brokers handling agricultural land
Title companies processing agricultural land transfers
Policy researchers and transparency advocates
Federal contractors for database and 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
- "the_secretaries"
- → Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Homeland Security (jointly)
- "the_chief_of_operations"
- → Chief of Operations of Investigative Actions (USDA)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
As defined in section 9 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3508)
As defined in section 781.2 of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations
A foreign person that is a citizen of, or headquartered in, a covered foreign country
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
As defined in section 9901 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (15 U.S.C. 4651)
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