Gluesenkamp Perez, Moolenaar Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Protect American Farmland and Rural Communities

Today, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA-03) and Rep. John Moolenaar (MI-02) introduced the bipartisan Farmland Security Act of 2025, a bill to increase transparency and oversight of foreign ownership of American farmland.

Foreign-owned agricultural acreage has nearly doubled in the past ten years, prompting concerns about the security risks this trend poses to domestic food systems, small family farms, and rural communities.

44.9 million acres of U.S. agricultural land, including 1.7 million acres in Washington state, were reported to the USDA as foreign investor-owned in 2023, making up 3.5 percent of all privately-held agricultural land in the United States and 8.1 percent in Washington state. However, these figures are likely an underestimation as there is a lack of oversight for foreign investors who evade reporting requirements for farmland purchases. Additionally, forest land accounts for 48 percent of reported foreign-held acreage, cropland for 29 percent, and pasture and other agricultural land for 21 percent.

The Farmland Security Act would help ensure all foreign investors and shell companies who buy American agricultural land report their holdings, strengthen penalties for those who evade filing, and invest in research to better understand the impacts of this ownership.

Specifically, this legislation would:

• Impose new financial penalties on foreign owners or shell companies who fail to report or misreport their acreage.
• Require research into foreign ownership of agricultural production capacity and foreign participation in agricultural economic activity in the United States.
• Direct the USDA to conduct an annual compliance audit to ensure accuracy and provide annual training to state and county level USDA staff on identifying non-reporting foreign-owned agricultural land.

“When foreign investors buy up broad swaths of American farm and timberland, we lose control over resources in our own backyard, our cultural identity and self-sufficiency suffers, and small family operations across Southwest Washington get squeezed out,” said Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez. “At a time when we import 40 percent of the fresh fruits and vegetables we consume each day, this bipartisan legislation will help us strengthen our food supply at home and the national security that comes with it.”

“The Farmland Security Act will protect America’s food supply from foreign shell companies, particularly those linked to adversaries like China, that try to skirt our laws,” said Rep. Moolenaar. “By boosting transparency and increasing penalties for foreign entities that break the law, we can safeguard our farmland and ensure our national security. I look forward to working with Rep. Gluesenkamp Perez, Senators Grassley and Baldwin, and my colleagues to move this important legislation forward.”

Full text of the legislation is available here.

The lawmakers previously introduced the legislation in the 118th Congress.

Sens. Tammy Baldwin (WI) and Chuck Grassley (IA) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. Senate.