Foreign adversaries buying U.S. farmland now face new federal watchdog
H.R. 1713 — Agricultural Risk Review Act of 2025 · Filed by Frank Lucas (R-OK) · 20 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 27, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill adds the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the committee that reviews foreign investments for national security risks (CFIUS), specifically for deals involving farmland, agricultural biotech, and food supply chain infrastructure. It also creates a formal process for flagging land purchases by citizens of China, North Korea, Russia, or Iran for national security review. Domestic agricultural landowners and U.S. agribusiness firms are the primary beneficiaries, as foreign adversary competition for these assets would face new regulatory barriers.
Why we flagged it
The bill functionally expands CFIUS jurisdiction to include agricultural land and biotechnology transactions involving foreign adversaries, adding the Secretary of Agriculture as a formal member. This is a genuine national security measure targeting foreign acquisition of U.S. agricultural assets.
What the text implies
- The sunset clause ties enforcement to the federal foreign adversaries list (15 CFR 791.4), meaning CFIUS review authority over these four countries automatically terminates if that list is updated through executive rulemaking without Congressional action.
- Intelligence community involvement in flagging transactions creates a parallel reporting channel outside the normal AFIDA disclosure framework, potentially subjecting routine foreign agricultural investment to surveillance-based screening before companies know they are under review.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
domestic agricultural landowners; U.S. agricultural biotechnology firms; domestic agricultural processing and storage companies