DENVER — It’s become a growing trend in recent years: Foreign investors are buying more of Colorado’s agricultural land.
Critics say it’s creating unfair competition, and some worry it could potentially put national security at risk. But what measures are in place to address these concerns, and what does the data say?
Much of the concern centers around China.
Tensions between the United States and China have increased in recent years. As distrust deepens between the two nations, fears have flourished. And foreign ownership of agricultural land has been one aspect that raised concerns for lawmakers in both Washington, D.C. and Denver.
Last year, State Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Littleton, introduced a bill to ban foreign ownership of agricultural land in Colorado.
“There is simply no reason we should be reliant on a communist country like China for our food supply,” Bradley said.
The bill never made it out of committee.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), foreign investors hold an interest in 43 million acres of farmland in the U.S.
Colorado has the third-largest amount of foreign-held agricultural land in the country — over 2.5 million acres. It's an increase of more than half a million acres from the year before.
“We do kind of see this as a growing problem,” said Tyler Garrett with Rocky Mountain Farmers Union (RMFU), which represents agriculture producers in Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico. “We have around 15,000 members across the three states."
The group supports banning foreign land ownership, in part, because he says allowing foreign ownership makes it harder for Colorado farmers and ranchers to buy land and compete.
“Hard to compete against a multinational organization that has a lot deeper pockets,” Garrett said.
He points to Smithfield Foods, which is the nation’s largest pork producer.
The Virginia-based company was bought by a Chinese company, the WH Group, in 2013.
A lot of the concern around that is multinational corporations coming in and buying large swaths of land and agricultural productions, and then further consolidating those down, Garrett said.
In a statement to Denver7, Smithfield Foods said the company owns a very small amount of land in Colorado.
“Smithfield Foods owns approximately 4,100 acres in Colorado, or 0.01% (one one-hundredth of one percent),” the statement said. “Since our founding in Smithfield, Virginia, in 1936, we have been committed to doing business the right way, and sustainability has been an important part of our business for more than two decades.”
Despite concerns, the percentage of foreign-owned farmland in the U.S. is small, accounting for just 3.4% of all privately held land.
While many worry about China, USDA data shows Chinese investors own less than 1% of farmland in the U.S. Most foreign-owned farmland in the U.S., about one-third, is owned by Canadian investors.
In Colorado, the countries that account for two-thirds of foreign-owned agricultural land are Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany, according to USDA data.
Zach Riley, CEO of the Colorado Livestock Association, said many people are incorrect about who owns foreign-owned agricultural land.
“They think it's the government of Canada or the government of China because that's what everybody brings up,” Riley said. “But it's not necessarily government. It's individuals.”
Riley has looked into foreign ownership of land in Colorado and testified about the issue before state lawmakers.
“I would say 80% of the time, they are doing nothing with it. It's just parcel holdings and investment,” he said.
The federal government also keeps a close eye on foreign ownership of agricultural land through the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
“It's an intra-agency committee, and it's chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury,” said Ashley House with the Colorado Farm Bureau. “And there are eight other members that include the secretaries of State, Homeland Security, Commerce, Energy, the U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Trade Representatives, and directors of science and technology policy.”
House said the origin of CFIUS dates back to the Cold War under President Gerald Ford, who convened the committee.
“And then the further iterations of CFIUS were strengthened by security concerns after 9/11,” House said.
The committee reviews transactions involving foreign investors and looks for potential national security risks.
“This committee has the authorization to review and even block transactions involving foreign investment,” House said.
The committee also shares an annual report with Congress.
The president has the power to block a transaction involving a foreign investor, though it’s rare. Presidents have only exercised that power seven times.
But as tensions with China increase, so have the number of investigations into foreign investment deals in both the Trump and Biden administrations.
House said the State of Colorado also tracks foreign investments.
“Foreign transactions are to be logged with the Secretary of State here in Colorado,” House said. “That’s already a mechanism and additional review, a guardrail, that we have in place here at the state level.”
But fear often spreads faster than fact, and some worry bans on foreign ownership of agricultural land could potentially send the wrong message.
“I've heard some pretty heinous things said about the idea, but it sends a very negative message,” Riley said. “It says that we're not welcoming, that if you're a foreign person or foreign entity, you're not welcome.”
Those calling for a ban on foreign ownership of ag land said that’s not their intention.
“We definitely don't want it to be a signal that we're not open to anyone coming in from the outside,” Garrett said.
Instead, they say they want to protect American farmers, ranchers, and the land.
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