S. 845: Farmland Security Act of 2025

This bill, titled the Farmland Security Act of 2025, aims to amend the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 by introducing changes to civil penalties and reporting requirements related to foreign investments in U.S. agricultural land. Below are the key elements of the bill:

1. Changes to Civil Penalties

The bill proposes to:

• Remove the existing cap on civil penalties for violations of foreign investment reporting requirements.
• Establish a new civil penalty for foreign-owned shell corporations that fail to comply, which would be equal to 100% of the fair market value of the agricultural land involved in the violation. A "shell corporation" is defined as an entity with no or minimal operations.
• Exempt shell corporations from the civil penalty if they correct any reporting issues within 60 days of being notified by the Secretary of Agriculture.

2. Investigative Actions

The bill requires the following actions:

• The Secretary of Agriculture must conduct annual audits on at least 10% of the reports submitted by foreign investors to ensure their accuracy and completeness.
• Annual training will be provided to state and county personnel to help them recognize agricultural land requiring reporting and identify any entities that have failed to submit reports.

3. Reporting Requirements

Amendments related to reports include:

• The Secretary must send an annual report to Congress detailing findings from research on:
• Foreign agricultural leasing activities and their impacts on family farms, rural communities, and domestic food supply.
• Trends in agricultural land purchases by foreign-owned shell corporations.
• General foreign ownership of agricultural production capacity.
• The Secretary must appropriate $2 million annually from fiscal years 2025 through 2030 to support the enforcement and research activities required by this Act.

4. Purpose of the Bill

The overall purpose of the bill is to strengthen the oversight of foreign investments in U.S. farmland, particularly to address concerns about foreign control over agricultural resources and the potential impacts on local communities and food security.

Relevant Companies

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