Crop rows on Mississippi farm (Photo from Shutterstock)
- According to Ag Commissioner Andy Gipson, foreign interests own over 1 million acres of land in Mississippi, representing 4.5% of all privately held agricultural land in the state.
Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson (R) is praising the decision by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to create an online website to streamline reporting requirements for foreign persons purchasing farmland in the U.S.
“This is a welcome development in the ongoing conversation surrounding national farm and food security, and I applaud the Trump Administration and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for their efforts on behalf of the American people,” said Gipson. “This online portal is long overdue, and I encourage continued awareness among Mississippians as we seek to limit foreign-owned land in this country and in our state.”
The website is part of the federal government’s attempt to protect the nation’s farm and food security, officials say.
Agriculture is Mississippi’s largest industry, worth approximately $9.5 billion annually, with more than 31,000 farms providing 185,000 jobs.
Gipson said data from 2024 shows that foreign interests own 1,094,523 acres of land in Mississippi, representing 4.5 percent of all privately held agricultural land in the state. Unfortunately, he said, this represents a net increase of 113,141 acres, a nearly 12 percent increase from 2023, in reported foreign-held agricultural land.
“Upon initial review, it seems that many, if not most, of the recent acquisitions involve wind and solar companies and other foreign interests, including several purchases by foreign interests with Canadian ties, within the state of Mississippi,” Gipson said. “With these new numbers, nearly five percent of our farmland is owned by foreign interests, and this should be a wake-up call for all Mississippians.”
He called foreign interest controlling more than 1,000,0000 acres “unthinkable.”
“Every acre of farmland lost to foreign interests is an acre that Americans and Mississippians no longer control, and I believe that presents a threat to our food supply and national security,” Gipson added. “Thankfully, the USDA’s new online reporting tool will enable a more timely and accurate review of these foreign purchases and will allow for quicker reporting and enforcement moving forward.”
Agriculture Secretary Rollins said in a statement that President Trump is putting America First, “and this includes increasing transparency and scrutiny of one of our most valuable national assets, American farmland.”
“We are working to improve the reporting of foreign-owned land in the United States. This move to streamline the reporting portal will increase compliance and assist our efforts to effectively enforce farm accurate reporting of interests held by foreign adversaries in U.S. farmland,” said Rollins.
Rollins continued by saying that the online portal will allow the USDA to obtain “verifiable information about foreign interests in American agricultural land and protect the security of our farmers.”
The federal agency also added that the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) became law in 1978, and its regulations were created to establish a nationwide system for the collection of information pertaining to foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land. The federal regulations require foreign investors who acquire, transfer or hold an interest in U.S. agricultural land to report such holdings and transactions to the Secretary of Agriculture.
You can visit the new online portal here.
