{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-continues-protect-us-farmland-foreign-ownership", "Johnson Continues to Protect U.S. Farmland from Foreign Ownership", "2023-11-21", "2023", "2023-11", "Republican", "House", "SD", "Dusty Johnson", "J000301", "dustyjohnson.house.gov", "dustyjohnson", "https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Washington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Representatives Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), and John Moolenaar (R-MI) introduced the Farmland Security Act of 2023 to protect food security and national security by strengthening analysis of foreign ownership of American agricultural land.\n\n\u201cAmerica\u2019s farmland is highly sought after, not only by U.S. producers, but by individuals and companies around the world,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cIf our ag land is sold into the wrong hands, we could face threats to our food security and national security. This bill puts provisions in place to give a more detailed analysis of who is buying our farmland so we can protect our rural communities, producers, food security, and national security.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen foreign investors buy up broad swaths of American farmland, our food access and national security are put at risk \u2013 all at a time when we import a significant chunk of the fruits and vegetables we consume each day,\u201d said Gluesenkamp Perez. \u201cThis bipartisan legislation would help us maintain control over our food supply and ensure family farms across Southwest Washington don\u2019t get squeezed out.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am proud to introduce the Farmland Security Act to help protect Michigan farms and our food supply. This legislation promotes transparency to the American people on foreign shell corporations and increases penalties for foreign entities failing to accurately report their land ownership,\u201d said Moolenaar. \u201cFarmland is a vital asset for our food supply, economy, and national security. It is more important than ever that we have the structures in place to review and assess foreign ownership.\u201d\n\nBackground:\n\nThe amount of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land has increased significantly over the past ten years. Johnson cosponsors several bills to protect American farmland from foreign adversaries, such as the Promoting Agriculture Safeguards and Security (PASS) Act, the Foreign Adversary Risk Management (FARM) Act, and the Protecting U.S. Farmland and Sensitive Sites From Foreign Adversaries Act.\n\n37.6 million acres of U.S. agricultural land, valued at over $60 billion, have been reported to the USDA as foreign investor owned. However, these figures are likely an underestimation as there is a lack of oversight for foreign investors who evade reporting requirements for domestic farmland purchases.\n\nThe Farmland Security Act of 2023 would:\n\nImpose new financial penalties on foreign owners or \u201cshell companies\u201d who fail to disclose or misreport their acreage;\n\nRequire research into foreign ownership of agricultural production capacity and foreign participation in the U.S. agriculture economy; and\n\nDirect the USDA to conduct an annual compliance audit to better identify non-reporting foreign-owned ag land.\n\nCompanion legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T01:01:09Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://dustyjohnson.house.gov/media/press-releases/johnson-continues-protect-us-farmland-foreign-ownership"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0210969485342503, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}