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Missouri bill would stop further foreign farmland ownership

A bill introduced in the Missouri legislature would change the amount of foreign-owned agricultural land in the state, going forward

Brian Smith, with the Missouri Rural Crisis Center, tells Brownfield Ag News his group is firmly in support of the bill, “The reason for this legislation is to bring the amount of allow able of foreign ownership of Missouri – foreign corporate ownership of Missouri farmland back down to zero-percent.”

In 2013, language was added to an omnibus ag bill that allowed one-percent of Missouri farm land to be owned by a foreign corporation. That bill passed just after Smithfield Foods was purchased by a Chinese firm. Smithfield owns 40-thousand acres in Missouri for its hog processing facilities.

Smith says, two years later, a loophole was created to bypass the requirement to inform the state Ag Department of foreign agricultural land purchases,

“Basically, (it would) close the W-9 loophole. And then it would grandfather in existing ownership of farmland, so they wouldn’t have to automatically divest or anything like that. But it would stop any further foreign corporate ownership of Missouri farmland.”

One-percent of Missouri farmland equals nearly 290-thousand acres.

The bipartisan bill is sponsored by state Representatives Martha Stevens of Columbia and Tom Hurst of Meta.