U.S. Farmland Controlled by the Chinese (2024)

FAQs

What country owns US farmland? ›

Bill Gates is currently the US's most significant private farmland owner, with 242,000 acres of farmland in 18 states. His foundation promotes advanced eco-friendly farming and the sustainability of farmland. Ted Turner owns 17 ranches with cattle in several US states and Argentina, totaling more than 45,000 bison.

China owns roughly 384,000 acres of U.S. agricultural land, according to a 2021 report from the Department of Agriculture.

Vilsack said in a Thursday Senate hearing that Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea together own under 400,000 acres of agricultural land as of 2021. He added that the nation's largest foreign landholders include Canada, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

The richest farmer in the US is Stewart Resnick, with a net worth of $7.6 billion. He and his wife, Lynda Resnick, own The Wonderful Company, which produces a range of products, including POM Wonderful pomegranate juice, Wonderful Pistachios, and Halos mandarins.

Currently, investors are attracted to farmland due to its low correlation with the stock market's volatility. This makes it an exceptional tool for diversifying portfolios. Farmers have pricing power for their crops. Food is not a discretionary item on any budget.

In the United States, 97 percent of all farms and ranches are family owned. Those farms and ranches are owned by individuals, family partnerships or family corporations. Just 3 percent are non-family owned corporations.

Recent reporting shows that a CCP-affiliated corporation purchased farmland in North Dakota that is just a stone's throw from high-capability military bases. The purchase raises the possibility that the Chinese government could use the farmland as a launching pad for espionage under the guise of operating a business.

Which states ban China from buying farmland? ›

Six states – including Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota, and Oklahoma – have laws banning foreign ownership of farmland.

On March 30, 1867, the United States reached an agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. The Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl.

Foreign entities buy agricultural land for a variety of reasons, such as food production, wind farming, carbon offsets, or speculative investments.

Farm operator households have more wealth than the average U.S. household because significant capital assets, like farmland and equipment, are generally necessary to operate a successful farm business. In 2021, the average U.S. farm household had $2,100,879 in wealth.

The wealthiest farmer in the United States lives and farms in California. Stewart Resnick, 81, owner of The Wonderful Company and 65 percent of the nation's pistachios, has had a distinct and sweeping effect on agriculture in the Golden State.

The largest agricultural landowner is the Chinese dairy farm 'Mudanjiang City Mega Farm', which is owned by Russian and Chinese owners. More than 9 million hectares belong to the company.

Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Michael Burry all invest in Farmland. Yet, most individual investors don't.

The best states for farmland in the US include Montana, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas, Iowa, Kentucky, Wyoming, and California. Consider factors like profitability, cost of operation, infrastructure, and availability when selecting a location.

Farmland is abandoned for a number of reasons. It may suffer from damaged soil, resulting in low crop yields that simply aren't' worth the effort it takes to farm them. The owners may become too old or otherwise be physically unable to continue farming.

Chinese entities owned 42,596 acres (172 square kilometers) of Missouri agricultural land as of 2021 — just a little under half of the roughly 100,000 agricultural acres (404 square kilometers) owned by all foreign entities, according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture.

How much US land is owned by foreign countries? ›

USDA reports that foreign persons and entities held an interest in 40.8 million acres of U.S. agricultural land in 2021, accounting for 3.1% of total privately owned land (Table 1). These data cover agricultural land and nonagricultural land.

1. Stewart & Lynda Resnick - 190,000 farmland acres.

About 89% of Canada's land area (8,886,356 km²) is Crown land, which may either be federal (41%) or provincial (48%); the remaining 11% is privately owned.

Highlights: Foreign Investment US Real Estate Statistics

From April 2020 to March 2021, investors from outside the United States bought 107,000 properties worth $54.4 billion in the United States. Foreign-born individuals make up 14.25 percent of the population in the country's 50 largest metros, on average.

Chinese food manufacturer Fufeng Group announced the purchase of 370 acres of land for a wet corn milling plant in 2021. The site is 12 miles from the Grand Forks Air Force Base.

China Oceanwide spent more than $500 million on real estate purchases in West Oahu during the last several years including a 424-acre adjacent to the 642-acre Ko Olina Resort.

Foreign investors are not allowed to buy land in China. The land in China belongs to the state and the collectives.

Is There Any Land in the US That No One Owns? Depends on what you mean by no one. There is plenty of publically-held land owned by the federal government or states. However, there is no land in the US that does not have a designated owner.

So can Americans own land in Mexico? Yes they can! Land for sale in Mexico is available for purchase by Americans, Canadians, and anyone around the world considered a “foreigner.”

What country owns the most US property? ›

In a study of USDA reports, Pew found the foreign country that owns the most U.S. land is not China or Russia, but rather, our neighbors north: Canada. Investors from the Great White North, according to the USDA, own about 12.8 million acres of U.S. land, most of it forest land.

The nation's largest private landowners are the Emmerson family in California who own over 2.4 million acres. The bulk of that land is dedicated to timber in Northern California. But the most headline-worthy transaction of 2022 was the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas.

Searches for French properties by US-based buyers jumped 37% in the first five months of 2022 compared to the same period last year, according to real estate company Knight Frank, with Paris, Provence, the French Riviera and southwest France among the most sought-after areas.

As of January 2023, the five countries owning the most US debt are Japan ($1.1 trillion), China ($859 billion), the United Kingdom ($668 billion), Belgium ($331 billion), and Luxembourg ($318 billion).

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