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MO Senate to hear ag land ownership bills

Missouri’s Senate Agriculture Committee will review three foreign ag land ownership bills on Tuesday. Missouri Soybean Association’s Casey Wasser says the organization has no set position on foreign ag land ownership, because it’s a complex issue.

“While on face value, you’d think preventing foreign ownership sounds good, but we want to make sure we encourage investment. We want to make sure we’re not de-valuing land maybe a farmer wants to sell,” says Wasser. “Some of these are publicly traded companies. When you get into the nuts and bolts of the legislation, it’s important.”

Missouri’s state law says no more than 1% of total ag acreage can be owned by a foreign ag business. The bills being heard in today’s hearing propose a tweak in the percentage.

“We know the directon they’re headed, based on the conversations we’ve been privy to, they’re going to drop that percent down, maybe to half a percent, but lawmakers are starting to look at do we want to cap completely foreign investment? Is there a difference between publicly traded companies you and I can invest in?”

Wasser says another factor lawmakers will consider is determining whether the land investor is a U.S. ally.

“Compared to someone we know we struggle with when it comes to national relations.”

The committee hearing is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and will be live streamed. Brownfield interviewed Wasser during the Missouri Soybean Association annual meeting on Monday.

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