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MO foreign ag land ownership updates on hold

Missouri lawmakers could not pass a foreign ag land ownership bill by the end of the state legislative session on Friday.

Representative Mike Haffner tells Brownfield lawmakers reached an agreement on a bill in a conference committee in the final days of the session, but no vote was taken on the bill in the House.

“This will take time, but I do believe the legislative process is correct. There will be disagreements, especially over difficult and complex pieces of legislation. There were a lot of conversations taking place behind closed doors.”

Senator Rusty Black says the agreed upon language for the bill in the final conference would revert to the 2013 statute stating no foreign entity can own farmland in the state, except for corporations in three counties. Haffner says the restricted country list did not get support in conference.

Black says he is disappointed the bill could not cross the finish line.

“We made it to a good spot that took care of farmland in the state of Missouri, but because of the politics of who’s going to run for their next job to who’s going to run for their next job, that got in the way of getting policy done in our state at times.”

Haffner and Black say foreign ag land ownership will come back up for discussion in the 2024 state legislative session.

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