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January 26, 2025

Sens. Tuberville, Fetterman reintroduce bill on foreign investment in American agriculture

Not all Democrats in this country care about what happens to American land. That's why it's such a big deal that Senate Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania has teamed up with Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

Tuberville and Fetterman have joined forces to reintroduce the Foreign Adversary Risk Management Act.

The FARM Act is co-sponsored by Alabama's other senator, Katie Britt.

Tuberville's press release indicates that the FARM ACT would "permanently add the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, the governmental body that oversees the vetting process of foreign investment and acquisition of American companies."

It continued, "Currently, CFIUS does not directly consider the needs of the agriculture industry when reviewing foreign investment and ownership in domestic businesses."

"Over the last decade, we’ve seen a surge of American farmland purchases from our foreign adversaries," Tuberville said. "These foreign investments are now reaching every piece of the very large puzzle that makes up our agriculture industry, from farming and processing to packaging and shipping. Food security is national security, and we cannot allow our adversaries to have a foot in the door to our critical supply chains."

Per the American Farm Bureau Federation, "45.85 million acres of U.S. agricultural land were held by foreign investors in 2023, which represents 3.61 percent of total privately held agricultural land in the United States."

Fetterman released his own statement about the FARM Act:

"Pennsylvania is home to about 50,000 farms and the farmers who power them already face enough challenges to stay competitive. They shouldn’t also have to compete with foreign adversaries buying up American farmland," he said. The statement continued:

America’s farms are critical infrastructure, and CFIUS exists to protect our critical infrastructure from foreign threats. So, adding the Secretary of Agriculture is just plain common sense. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: foreign adversaries have no business owning American farmland. This bill makes that clear and I’m proud to partner with my colleague to get it done.

Fetterman is the lone Democrat lawmaker currently involved with the FARM Act, although former Biden official USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and former Clinton administration Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy have also voiced their support for the bill.

On the House side of things, U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas has introduced a piece of companion legislation.

This bill would help American land stay in the hands of Americans. It's hard to understand why more Democrats aren't on board already.

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