Ernst Urges USDA to Modernize Process for Disclosing Foreign-Owned Land

WASHINGTON - Today, Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.) led a bipartisan group in urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to streamline its process for the electronic submission and retention of Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) disclosures.

In the letter, the senators pointed out alleged inaccuracies in information publicly posted by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the problems that arise when this information is inaccurate.

"The current practice of manual data entry, including the re-typing of paper-filed reports into FSA systems, can lead to the publication of problematic and inaccurate information,"the senators wrote."We're told there have been instances where energy developers have been incorrectly identified as having ownership interests from sanctioned nations, when in reality the investment originates from U.S. allies. If true, such errors not only create confusion but also undermine the credibility of the data published by the FSA."

Currently, these disclosures are completed by hand on physical paper. Last year's appropriations bill mandated the establishment of a streamlined process for electronic submission and retention of AFIDA disclosures, including an internet database. The senators are demanding answers after USDA has been slow to comply with this congressional mandate and has instead only added a disclaimer to its website to highlight possible reporting inaccuracies.

Read the full letter here.

Background:

Ernst understands that food security is national security and has consistently worked to make defending both a priority. Her bipartisan FARMLAND Act will overhaul the current system that has allowed China's malign influence to threaten American security by amending the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978, which was established to develop a nationwide system for collecting information on foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land.

She supported the AFIDA Improvements Act to implement recommendations from a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that detailed alarming gaps in how the USDA currently tracks foreign investments. Ernst has also confronted the USDA about its lack of oversight of foreign involvement in American agricultural land, and questioned agency officials to ensure they make updates to the AFIDA reporting process a priority.

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