The latest report on foreign ownership of U.S. ag land shows that 45.85 million acres of U.S. farmland were held by foreign investors in 2023. That represents 3.61 percent of total privately-held agricultural land in the U.S. This marks a 1.58-million-acre, or 3.6 percent, increase from 2022 and a five-million-acre (12.2 percent) rise since the American Farm Bureau’s last analysis in 2021.
Canadian investors own the largest portion of foreign-held U.S. ag land with 33.5 percent, or 15.35 million acres of the total and 1.21 percent of all U.S. ag land. Following Canada, investors from the Netherlands, Italy, the U.K., and Germany round out the top five in that category.
By state, Texas has the largest quantity of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land at 5.7 million acres, making up 3.6 percent of the state’s 1.58 million acres of privately held agricultural land. Maine has the second-largest quantity at 3.5 million acres.
(From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters)