China's Acquisition of U.S. Farmland: Unveiling the Truth

A review of USDA documents by NBC News found that Chinese entities have made very few purchases of U.S. farmland in the past year and a half, amounting to less than 1,400 acres, or less than three-hundredths of 1% of the country's agricultural land. However, the review also revealed lax reporting and enforcement of foreign ownership, with some transactions not being reported for years. The majority of foreign purchases were made by European wind power companies leasing land for wind turbines. Lawmakers are pushing for stricter regulations on foreign ownership due to national security concerns, but enforcement has been weak, with only a few penalties imposed in the past decade.