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GAO report: USDA can improve on foreign ag land data

A recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office says USDA needs to do a better job collecting, tracking and sharing data on foreign-owned agricultural land.

The latest information from USDA says in 2022, more than 43 million acres of U.S. agricultural land is foreign owned. But Kim Gianopoulos, a director with GAO’s International Affairs and Trade Team, tells Brownfield the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States that reviews land transactions needs timely and updated data from USDA.

“Late information isn’t useful information and we want to make sure CFIUS has the best information possible when they’re making decisions about foreign purchases of agricultural land.”

She says Congress has asked the agency to develop an online submission process for reporting by 2025, but the agency hasn’t started that yet. She says USDA is still tracking information on paper.

“One of the things USDA told us is they don’t have the budget or staff to put the database together. That’s why they’re still relying on a paper-based system to put things together.”

She says the GAO issued six areas of improvement to the USDA and the agency is required to respond to the GAO and Congress with their plan of action within six months.

This GAO report was issued at the request of more than 130 lawmakers, including House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson. In a statement, Thompson and the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer say they’ll identify legislative vehicles to address the findings of the report.