U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, cosponsored the Senate version of the bicameral, bipartisan Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 269-149 yesterday.

The Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024 will make the Secretary of Agriculture a permanent member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The Secretary's inclusion in the committee adds another layer of scrutiny onto foreign acquisitions of U.S. farmland and agricultural businesses.

The bipartisan legislation will also flag farmland purchases by foreign adversaries like China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran for CFIUS. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), over 43.4 million acres of U.S. agricultural land are foreign-owned.

"Allowing our adversaries to have any form of control over our food supply is a dangerous game, and one we should never play. Our commonsense legislation will protect America's interests by ensuring that any foreign investments in the agricultural sector are thoroughly vetted," said Senator Fischer.

Senator Mike Braun (R-Ind.) led the introduction of the bill in the U.S. Senate, and U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) led the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. In addition to Senators Fischer and Braun, the legislation is cosponsored by Senators Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

The full text of the legislation can be viewed here.

Background:

The Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act of 2024 would:

• Permanently include the Secretary of Agriculture as a member of CFIUS to review covered transactions involving agricultural land, agricultural biotech, or the transportation, storage, and processing of agricultural products.
• Authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to report agricultural land transactions that involve foreign persons of China, North Korea, Russia, or Iran, as well as transactions that require Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) reporting to CFIUS.

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