Grassley calls on USDA to share info on foreign-owned farmland

WASHINGTON — Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s urging the US Department of Agriculture to share with key national security agencies its data on foreign-owned farmland.

In a letter to Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, Grassley says the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978, which he cosponsored when he was a member of the House, requires the USDA to collect, track and report reliable data on foreign investments in US agricultural land. Grassley says the USDA is failing to do that.   “The US Department of Agriculture isn’t sharing all that critical information with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The USDA is not sharing it with the Department of Defense as well. So, the USDA is sitting on a treasure trove of data that federal partners could use to help protect American farmers.”

Grassley says the Government Accountability Office recommended that the USDA improve its data reporting standards, something he says has not happened.  “But, as so often happens, so far the US Department of Agriculture hasn’t moved on those recommendations. I sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack asking him when he plans to fix this oversight. I’ve also asked the agency to go back and address any reporting errors that they found in previous disclosure forms.”

Grassley is co-sponsoring a bill that would give Vilsack a permanent seat on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.  “While that bill remains a top legislative priority, the USDA can act right now to combat foreign threats by sharing the information it already has in its hands.”

The United States House earlier this month passed the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act on a 269-to-149 vote.