After passing through Missouri’s Senate, House Bill 903, a bill that aims to limit foreign agricultural land ownership in the state, will head back to the House after changes were made to it.
Current law in Missouri limits foreign-owned land to 1 percent of the total state acreage. But between the Chinese company Fufeng Group receiving approval to purchase U.S. land near a military base in North Dakota, and a Chinese spy balloon flying over parts of Missouri, lawmakers have decided to further limit ownership.
About 0.36 percent of Missouri’s farmland is already foreign owned, and according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture, China owns about 42,596 acres.
The new bill will further limit foreign ownership at 0.5 percent, barely above the current ownership. The bill will also require that any sale or transfer of such land by an alien or foreign business to be reported, as defined in the bill, to the Attorney General and Secretary of State 30 days prior to when the sale or transfer is finalized.
The attorney general is then required under the bill to review and approve any sale or transfer “as provided in the bill.”
While original language in the House Bill included limitations on who can purchase foreign land (China, Russia, Iran, North Korean, and Venezuela), the provision was removed from the Senate’s version. Missouri’s Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft spoke out against the revision.
The legislation my office worked on, HB 903, was written to prevent China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, and Russia from owning any land in Missouri. Unfortunately the Senate amended HB 903 before passing it, creating a loophole that allows those hostile nations to buy as much…
— Jay Ashcroft (@JayAshcroftMO) April 19, 2023
The Senate version also edited the bill to include an emergency clause putting the legislation into effect as soon as it’s signed by the governor.
While foreign land ownership policy in the U.S. has been heavily debated in recent years, this particular bill passed by 31-3.
Not everyone agrees with limiting the sale of private lands. Missouri’s Sen. Lincoln Hough argued on the floor that the legislation limited individual property rights.
According to the Columbia Missourian, Sen. Rick Brattin argued for national security stating, “Are we going to sell to a foreign adversary that wishes to destroy our very nation? Absolutely not.”
How do producers feel about foreign land ownership?
According to the National Ag Law Center, other states that already have a law prohibiting or restricting foreign ownership and investments in private farmland include: Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Wisconsin.
»Related: Wyoming bill aims to ban foreign ownership of state’s ag lands
