The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is utilizing a streamlined online filing portal for the reporting of foreign involvement, including both governments and businesses, in transactions over U.S. land.
The portal is part of the National Farm Security Action Plan (NFSAP) that the USDA rolled out in July 2025. The NFSAP falls under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA) and aims to increase transparency in foreign ownership of U.S. land.
The USDA’s annual AFIDA report detailed that foreign persons held an interest in nearly 46 million acres of U.S. agricultural land as of December 31, 2024. This is 3.6 percent of all privately held agricultural land and 2 percent of all land in the United States.
The report states that between Dec. 31, 2023, and Dec. 31, 2024, foreign holdings increased by 3.1 million acres, with an average acreage increase estimated between 1.3 million acres and 3.4 million acres per year since 2017.
It is also reported that Texas has the largest amount of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land and saw the second-largest increase in foreign-held agricultural acres.
The Texas Legislature in 2025 passed Senate Bill 17, which places restrictions on certain foreign individuals and businesses regarding land acquisition from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The bill went into effect on Sept. 1, 2025.
Texas harbors has the largest number of Chinese holdings, with companies Brazos Highland Properties LP and Harvest Texas LLC contributing to large percentages of Chinese investment. Both companies are associated with Chinese billionaire Sun Guangxin.
In 2021, Guangxin purchased a 140,000-acre ranch in Val Verde County near a U.S. Air Force base — with plans to build wind turbines. The purchase caused turmoil in the Texas Legislature and was eventually denied due to national security concerns.
The USDA report stated that Chinese primaryinvestor filers reported owning 247,659 acres of agricultural land as of Dec. 31, 2024; Iranian filers reported owning 547 acres; North Korea had no acres; and Russian investors reported 11 acres.
In 2017, a Chinese investment firm was reported to have paid $1.3 billion to buy giant oil fields in Texas. Yantai Xinchao acquired oil assets in the western Texas Permian Basin that were owned by Tall City Exploration and Plymouth Petroleum. The deal was part of a larger transaction between Yantai Xinchao and a second Chinese firm, according to a stock exchange filing.