Foreign Investment

Kevin Kirby operates a tractor to begin the sweet potato harvest process by plowing them up from the field on Kirby Farms in Mechanicsville, Virginia, on Sep. 20, 2013. Kirby is a fourth-generation farmer. (USDA photo by Lance Cheung.)

Senators probe foreign ownership of ag land; Rounds measure would ban several countries

BY: - September 27, 2023

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators said during a Wednesday hearing that foreign ownership of U.S. farmland is a national security threat that should be further examined. The U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry discussed foreign ownership of the nation’s agricultural lands, with testimony from experts and Senate colleagues who have been taking the lead […]

An aerial view from a drone shows a combine being used to harvest the soybeans in a field at the Bardole & Sons farm on Oct. 14, 2019, in Rippey, Iowa. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

State has one record of acting on 44-year-old foreign ag land law

BY: - July 21, 2023

In the late 1970s, amid national worry that foreigners might be buying up agricultural land and driving up the price, South Dakota lawmakers decided to act. They passed a law limiting foreign ownership of farm and ranch land to 160 acres. Now, 44 years later, as the issue of foreign ownership is back in the […]

Governor Kristi Noem conducts a bill-signing ceremony in a military hangar at the South Dakota Air National Guard’s 114th Fighter Wing at Joe Foss Field on Mar. 22, 2023. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Noem signs ban on ‘evil foreign government’ contracts, takes questions on ag land and trusts

BY: - March 22, 2023

SIOUX FALLS — With a fighter jet in the background, Governor Kristi Noem conducted a bill-signing ceremony Wednesday in a military hangar where she celebrated efforts to mitigate the influence of what she called “evil foreign governments.”  “I’ll do everything in my power that I can to ensure that our people stay as free as […]

Rep. Will Mortenson, chair of the South Dakota House State Affairs Committee, listens to testimony on Jan. 20, 2023, at the Capitol in Pierre. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

Attempts to block foreign ag-land ownership continue, despite existing laws that address it

BY: and - February 23, 2023

PIERRE — Efforts to prevent and root out existing foreign ownership of agricultural land in South Dakota are still in progress, despite the Legislature’s rejection of a proposal from Gov. Kristi Noem, and despite a set of 44-year-old state laws that already facilitate some of what lawmakers are trying to accomplish.  The governor’s bill would […]

Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, on the Senate floor during the 2023 legislative session at the Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

Senate rejects Noem’s bill to vet ag-land purchases by foreigners

BY: - February 21, 2023

PIERRE – The state Senate rejected a bill Tuesday that Gov. Kristi Noem had proposed as a way to protect South Dakota’s agricultural land from purchases by hostile foreigners. The vote was 23-11, and it wasn’t the only legislative rebuke of the day for Noem. Earlier Tuesday, a House committee rejected her bill to repeal […]