Table 7--Value of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings, by State, December 31, 1996
State Acres Reparied Acres with current | Reported current Adjusted current
and U.S. (Number) value * value reported value * value *
Territory (1,000 dollars) (Number) (1,000 dollars) (1,000 dollars)
|
Alabama 249,500 153,487 242,049 154,394 244,699
Alaska 195 117 195 117 ‘ 139
Arizona, 351,944 303,859 278,957 311,369 *, 386,252
Arkansas 260,471 155,809 258,156 155,813 "114,844
California 947,778 1,924,721 ° 892,741 1,940,011 2,194,533
Colorado 705,819 414,764 681,850 412,966 . 514,788
Connecticut 882 4,669 773 3,450 6,948
Delaware 5,878 17,449 5,610 16,495 31,082
Florida 653,100 1,243,307 631,676 1,384,031 1,857,821
Georgia 490,503 441,043 463,129 465,604 562,091
Hawaii 180,075 661,551 179,841 660,266 846,717
Idaho 22,920 10,349 22,111 11,125 16,679
Mlinois 208,708 295,247 206,287 299,614 : 341,395
Indiana 97,600 121,932 96,898 110,323 125,732
lowa 33,191 50,817 31,540 54,937 51,660
Kansas 65,022 36,408 62,778 38,021 38,467
Kentucky 117,859 232,029 112,371 232,067 315,484
Louisiana 727,391 465,145 710,140 470,483 457,946
Maine 3,234,890 280,928 3,165,033 270,365 336,902
Maryland 51,902 134,681 48,685 143,687 219,414
Massachusetts 2,029 1,550 1,844 1,122 1,836
Michigan 347,490 105,457 346,213 . 97,645 116,570
Minnesota 222,322 22,170 93,904 19,038 19,861
Mississippi 193,657 172,145 188,208 170,922 193,478
Missouri 71,970 438 67,053 63,633 : 68,838,
Montana 462,879 78,286 430,519 79,457 94,737
Nebraska 74,441 10,643 72,961 23,751 22,711
Nevada 388,393 21,013 388,393 21,099 27,244
New Hampshire 15,871 7,074 14,850 6,389 12,170
New Jersey 18,369 85,735 16,399 71,729 122,345
New Mexico 786,456 88,354 751,588 101,557 150,790
New York 283,483 87,867 279,039 92,543 133,225
North Carolina 194,038 222,817 182,715 272,478 346,407
North Dakota 26,375 4,960 24,115 7,488 7,763
Ohio 184,544 173,559 183,281 169,299 190,445
Oklahoma 59,765 22,217 59,765 23,569 24,658
Oregon 232,861 160,348 198,551 164,335 215,515
Pennsylvania 104,207 106,822 103,773 113,357 157,550
Puerto Rico 839 696 839 938 1,011
Rhode Island 17 600 17 | 600 630
South Carolina 172,598 155,877 164,947 152,475 183,065
South Dakota 41,441 14,614 36,422 13,968 12,124
Tennessee 86,680 85,014 82,412 76,447 102,278
Texas . 1,184,309 1,456,905 1,075,309 | 1,822,132 1,365,316
Utah 57,623 62,081 56,812 | 126,389 191,188
Vermont 86,934 81,197 85,061 | 85,857 147,743
Virginia 146,286 325,931 130,350 319,318 393,480
Washington 190,793 216,211 159,277 221,432 264,157
West Virginia 175,661 127,902 175,259 102,951 124,251
Wisconsin 28,083 47,544 25,469 46,302 54,982
Wyoming 218,228 50,687 218,228 50,046 56,306
Total 14,464,270 11,015,026 13,704,393 » 11,153,404 13,466,270
‘ Reported value is purchase price or nonpurchase price (estimated value) at time of acquisition.
? Reported current value reflects value at time of reporting after February 1, 1979. { .
° Reported current value adjusted to January 1| 1996. Reported current value for holdings acquired in 1996 is unadjusted.
12



Table 21--Foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land acquisitions,
by size of acquisition, January 1 - December 31, 1996

Size Owners Parcels Acres Value
(Acres) reporting reported (Number) (1,000
(Number) (Number) dollars)
Less than 20 13 13 110 2,372
20-59 21 25 694 12,844
60-99 22 28 1,699 7,176
100-299 36 50 6,729 15,906
300-999 44 90 23,749 87,270
1,000 or more 32 137 1,382,592 867,058
Total 168 343 1,415,573 ‘992,626
‘ Value is purchase price or nonpurchase price (estimated value).
Table 22--Value of U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by type of foreign owner,
January 1 - December 31, 1996
Acres
Acres Purchase with Non-
Owners urchase price * non- purchase
Owner reporting Pp rice (1,000 purchase price '
(Number) ep orted dollars) price (1,000
(Ni " mber) reported dollars)
(Number)
Individual 44 13,815 12,392 5 7
Corporation 96 904,255 708,530 1,359 2,864
Partnership 18 8,307. 15,160 0 0
Estate 1 6 182 O i)
Trust 3 817 1,363 O oO
Other 6 486,946 . 252,128 0 )
Total 168 1,414,209 989,755 1,364 2,871
Acres “Current Acres Equity
with value 2 with (1,000
current (1,000 equity dollars)
value dollars) reported
reported (Number)
(Number)
Individual 13,820 12,399 13,820 10,486
Corporation 905,614 698,887 905,614 691,882
Partnership 8,307 16,952 8,307 15,759
Estate 69 182 69 182
Trust 817 1,363 817 1,363
Other 486,946 252,128 486,946 250,129
Total 1,415,573 ° 981,911 1,415,573 969,801
‘ Purchase price and nonpurchase price (estimated value) at time of acquisition.

? Current value is value at

t time of reporting.



overstated; that is, all acres in these:parcels are not necessarily affected by new tenure arrangements.
Nevertheless, reports for 0.3 percent of the parcels, accounting for 0.3 percent of the acres, indicated that some
tenure arrangements would change. No responses on tenure changes were received for 22 percent of the parcels
containing 15 percent of the acres.

Acquisitions

Foreign persons reported that they had acquired 343 parcels of U.S. agricultural land, covering 1,415,573 acres
during January 1-December 31, 1996 (tables 18 and 19). Included in these acquisitions data are reports filed by
U.S. entities that became foreign during the period. This change occurs when a significant interest or substantial
control in a U.S. entity is subsequently acquired by a foreign person. Consequently, all reported acres are not
necessarily recent land purchases. These acquisitions could include land held for any length of time by a U.S.
entity that recently came within the definition of a foreign person under the act.

The reported acquisitions data should be regarded as preliminary in that they understate the total acreage acquired
by foreign persons during the reporting period. Because foreign persons have a statutory 90 days within which to
teport their acquisitions, not all the acquisitions acquired in the 90 days preceding the December 31, 1996,
closing date of this report were received for processing by USDA. Therefore, a number of reports for October,
November, and December are not included here. A further understatement of the acreage acquired by foreign
persons during the reporting period may result from reports that are not timely filed and/or completed. Such
reports would not have been processed for inclusion here.

Table 17--Tenure of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings,
December 31, 1996

(Number)
Tenure Parcels Acres
Current:
Foreign owner 4,075 7,391,858
Manager 1,465 1,310,329
Tenant 5,206 3,624,324
No report 3,103 2,129,329
Combination 12 8,430
Total | 13,861 14,464,270
Rental:
Crop 1,222 507,627
Cash 3,314 2,594,279
Both 65 50,923
No report 5,179 3,918,358
Not applicable 4,081 7,393,083
Total : 13,861 14,464,270
Intended change: ;
None 6,430 8,255,791
New 4,380 3,974,641
Both 44 43,382
No report 3,007 2,190,456
Total 13,861 14,464,270



Foreign entities from Singapore purchased most of the U.S. forest land or forest and other nonagricultural lands

(table 28), accounting for 77 percent of such| acquisitions, 1,022,597 acres. Foreign persons from Canada not
affiliated with a U.S. corporation purchased another 267,869 acres or 20 percent.

Corporations accounted for the largest number of owners reporting acquisitions of forest or forest and other
nonagricultural land--59 percent of the owners reported acquiring 68 percent of the parcels covering 63 percent of
the acres (table 29).

Owners of parcels of less than 1,000 acres, 76 percent of the owners, reported acquiring 45 percent of the parcels
covering only 1 percent of the forest or forest and other nonagricultural lands (table 30). The remaining 24 percent
of the holders, owning parcels with 1,000 acres or more, reported acquiring 55 percent of the parcels covering 99
percent of these lands and representing 94 percent of the value.

intended Use

Reports for more than 99 percent of the acres indicated no change in land use (table 31). Intended changes to other
agricultural and nonagricultural uses were reported for holders of approximately 1 percent of the acquired acres.
Because the form asks for changes by parcels and not acres, all of these acres may not be affected by the indicated
changes. Reports on intended use were received for all but a small fraction of the acres.

Table 27--U.S. forest and other nonagricultural land acquisitions of foreign owners, by State,
January 1 - December 31, 1996

State Parcels
. Acres Value
and.U.S. reported 1
Tertitory (Number) (Number) (1,000 dollars)
|

Alabama 2 195 172
Alaska 1 110 29
Arkansas 5 209,756 111,626
Georgia 17 9,023 7,425
Kentucky 4 92 31
Louisiana 25 812,833 657,029
Maine 25 268,786 40,479
Michigan 1 115 . 110
Minnesota 7 282 . 61
Mississippi 4 266 186
New York 2 2,523 930
North Carolina 3 755 1,638
Ohio 1 3 1
Pennsylvania 1 31 12
South Carolina 9 14,142 2,957
Tennessee 1 875 350
Texas 2 2,324 2,246
Virginia 7 216 203
West Virginia 3 152 66

Total 120 1,322,479 825,551

* Value is purchase price or nonpurchase price (estimated value).

38



Figure 1

State Concentration of Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land, December 31, 1996

Figure 2
Proportion of Foreign-Owned Agricultural Land to All Privately Owned
Agricultural Land in the United States, December 31, 1996

y Less than 0.1%
AZ 0.10 0.9%

1.0 to 1.9%
2.0% or more



Table 40--Acquisitions and dispositions of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land, by date,
January 1981 - December 1996
Acquisitions Dispositions
Date Parcels adres Value Parcels Acres * Value
reported (Number) 1| . Teporte (Number) (1,000
(Number) (1,000 dollars) } (Number) dollars) *
1981
January 153 67,204 106,435 53 44,136 _. 29,207
February 152 44,004 87,272 36. 11,066 17,664
March 284 2,489,023 1,922,653 44 105,183 31,220
April ” 176 105,283 126,701 55 50,437 35,157
May 188 144,732 224,143 55 10,853 17,352
June 197 115,763 111,843 60 50,818 35,890
July 176 137,844 183,462 55 61,668 41,815
August 316 681,384 283,925 46° 26,429 58,717
September 156 50,684 104,517 40 5,287, 8,718
October 158 111,384 66,278 47 18,190, 13,804
November 157 75,567 77,122 50 23,154 18,752
December 149 113,428: 108,537 61 31,421 35,779
Multiple 7 1,846°." 2,018 1 an 204
Total 2,269 4,138,146 3,404,906 603+ 438,653 344,279
1982
January . 193 92,524 156,961 65 33,098 44,971
February 103 51,792 73,947 36 25,870 17,294
March 143 50,474 * 91,683 36 8,437. 12,254
April 122 55,224 67,241 38 28,722 20,708
May 119 84,260 65,485 39 9,156 26,175
June 141 79,414 65,174 47 29,471 39,797
July 136 70,556 87,916 40 11,633 19,168
August 108 192,259 97,743 31 15,860 23,957
September 738” 47,116 35,028 30 24,609 10,719
October 98 38,649 34,542 43 2,830 2,727
November 88 125,187 157,806 39 19,720 66,027
December 92 36,484 55,906 58 16,699 22,828
Multiple 7 5,552 3,875 0 0 _ 0
Total 1,428 929,491 993,307 © 502 226,105 306,625
1983
January 98 31,593 59,186 . 30 12,705 14,841
February 78 45,893 47,207 36 125,215 23,651
March 79 22,321 46,244 33 8,104 ‘15,202
April 112 92,058 59,255 71 26,568 24,706
May 118. 37,318 67,502 69 27,507 18,535
June 74 29,725 56,413 59. 7,096 41,642
July. 87 46,636 46,979 53 18,659 27,690
August 71 33,826 30,901 53 34,153 23,677 ©
September 71 104,823 98,673 40 11,272 12,203
October 48 19,091 27,416 4 4,571 28,029
November 78 55,184 325,405 61 176,802 290,889
December 79 32,502 64,826 75 15,809 34,139
Total 993 550,970 930,007 621 468,461 555,204
1984
January 117 318,592 138,527 127 55,458 56,750
February 44 19,238 51,288 27 13,920 22,447
March . 68 78,165 89,735 52 26,609 24,878
April - 81 72,868 95,844 50 34,856 42,621
May 69 15,459 19,811 42 7,885 11,067
June 75 50,994 70,831 42 29,884 37,041
48



Table 38--Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land, by country of foreign-owner and U.S: region,
January 1 - December 31, 1996
(Number)
South _| West Northeast Midwest
Parcels | Parcels Parcels Parcels
Country reported a reported Acres reported Acres reported Acres

Australia oO te) 0 i) oO Oo 1 15
Austria 1 9 0 0 i) oO i) oO
Bahrain 0 0 0 ) 0 0 2 313
Bermuda 0 te) 3 51 i?) O te) 0
Canada 3 1,038 4 133 5 23,623 1 160
Germany 28 9,422 ~ 9 3,598 2 326 1 1,821
Greece ie) to) 0 0 0 0 7 400
Hong Kong 0 0 1 168 0 le) 0 0
Ireland Oo i) 0 i) 0 te) 1 84
Japan i) 0 0 0 i) 0 9 196
Liechtenstein 1 1,461 ie) 0 le) 0 Oo 1)
Netherlands 3 575 1 130 te) i) 1 "94
Netherlands Antilles 2 1,794 0 0 0 0 1 286
Philippines 0 0 4 124 0) 0 tt) 0
Sweden 0 0 1 40 0 t) 0 0
Switzerland 4 577 2 56 1 20 1 513
United Kingdom 127 697,778 52 700,833 1 1,022 1 70
Venezuela 2 209 te) 0 0 oO le) to)
Mietnam 1 37 1°) O 0 oO 0 0

Subtotal ' 172 \712,900 77 = 705,133 9 24,991 36 3952
US/Belgium 1 6 0 O O te) (0) 0
US/Bermuda 1 30 O i) oO O 0 1)
US/British Virgin +

Islands 2 152 te) 0 0 iY) 10 147,876
US/Canada 5 2,667 3 260 4 172 2 129
US/Cayman Islands 1 1,490 0) i} (0) 0 te) i)
US/China 1 167 Oo Oo ) 0 ie) 0
US/Finland O 0 0 0 i) i) 2 192
US/France 4 817 2 1,468 8 910 3 9,038
US/Germany 29 5,832 4 7,120 5 189 ai 1,905
US/Italy 1 2,708 i) oO 0 0 ie) i)
US/Japan O 0 3 5,768 Oo oO 0 i)
US/Mexico 1 117 i) ie) O i) oO i)
US/Netherlands 4 2,761 ie) 0 0 te) i) 0
US/New Zealand 1 1,052 i} ie) 0 ie) 0 0)
US/Panama: 1 160 0 0 oO te) te) 0
US/Saudi Arabia 1 105 oO oO 0 0 ie) Oo
US/Singapore 16 537,838 0 i) i) i) i) ie)
US/Switzerland 6 3,446 2 105 0 oO oO te)
US/United Kingdom 10 515 17 14,955 5 1,124 14 1,353
UShthird tier 122 214,211 0 0 0 0 0 0

Subtotal * 207 774,074 31 29,676 22 2,395 52 160,493
Total all .

land dispositions 379 = 1,486,974 108 734,809 31 27,386 88 164,445

‘ Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
? Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.



Table 40--Acquisitions and dispositions of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land, by date,
January 1981 - December 1996---Continued

Acquisitions Dispositions
Date Parcels bres Value Parcels heres Value
reporte' (Number) a] feporte (Number) (1,000
(Number) (1,000 dollars) (Number) dollars) *
June 33 11,547 14,630 52 12,280 . 32,808
July 27 3,113 18,664 52 103,174 18,183
August 31 6,154 23,391 84 14,049 15,823
September 30 7,128 8,282 64 13,322 13,302
October 18 4411 7,946 38 8,702 4,331
November 15 3,766 12,557 44 7,328 15,481
December 24 918,225 92,171 76 29,372 24,857
Total 344 1,043,343 291,215 571 330,878 181,726
1995 :
January 55 86,656 38,893 116 59,982 47,732
February 29 11,218 8,802 40 17,210 13,459
March 47 _ 13,876 45,592 39 4,044 3,805
April 53 26,836 39,629 46 21,211 29,097
May 24 2,946 4,608 4 24,987 20,958
June 39 109,337 15,193 37 6,097 12,333
July 38 21,260 17,194 55 7,461 6,905
August 31 43,915 82,945 31 21,579 32,906
September 29 4,413 14,415 - 34 40,631 11,448
October « 30 30,547 17,643 34 6,563 6,802
November 28 23,482 18,617 26 7,152 5,348
December 98 104,512 36,366 67 36,701 30,465
Total 501 478,998 339,897 566 253,618 221,258
1996
January 30 5,714 17,614 53 160,081 76,013
February 54 299,898 13,616 31 8,876 11,679
March 72 1,040,570 837,884 190 772,021 627,217
April 47 22,762 14,586 101 292,062 31,360
May 30 6,791 5,884 87 880,004 77,932
June 23 10,129 7,871 28 4,953 4,470
July 21 5,052 30,031 24 4,565 16,675
August 26 7,449 7,188 55 259,004 26,471
September ai 7,557 10,954 20 2,593 3,426
October 10 5,186 3,339 12 29,043 3,661
November 9 4,465 43,659 3 393 129
December to) 0 0 2 19 3
Total 343 1,415,573 992,626 606 2,413,614 879,036
‘ Value is purchase price or nonpurchase price (estimated value) at time of acquisition.
Program Costs and Penalties
Administration of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 for obtaining.and analyzing the
data required an estimated 10.5 staff-years at a cost of approximately $540,000 to USDA for the past year, of
which the Farm Services Agency contributed approximately 9.4 staff-years at an estimated cost of $482,268.
The remaining costs and staff-years are attributable primarily to the Economic Research Service, with some
contributions by the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Public Affairs. During 1996, USDA
assessed 163 penalties for late filings, totaling $93,277.
52





Country of Origin. Foreign entities from the United Kingdom and a U.S./Singapore corporation collectively
disposed of 80 percent of the acreage (table 37). The South had 62 percent of.the acres disposed (table 38).
Foreign entities from the U.K. and a U.S./Singapore corporation together disposed of 83 percent of the acreage in
the South. Foreign persons from the U:K! accounted for 95 percent of the dispositions in the West. Foreign
persons from Canada disposed of 86 percent in the Northeast. U.S./British Virgin Islands corporations disposed
of 90 percent of the disposed acres-in the Midwest.

Land Use

Two percent of acres disposed were cropland, 2 percent pasture, 96 percent forest, 0.1 percent other agriculture,
and 0.1 percent other nonagriculture (table 39). U.S./Japan, U.S./Switzerland, and U.S./France corporations
disposed of 33 percent of the cropland; UIS/U.K., U.S./France, and U.S./Germany corporations disposed of 80
percent of the pasture land. U.K. companies and U.S./Singapore corporations disposed of 83 percent of the
forest land. “4

Trends

The data for 1996 are generally biased toward the first part of the year. Data for 1981 through 1995 are generally
more evenly distributed throughout the year (table 40). This has also been the case for current year data in past
AFIDA reports. The reason relates to the AFIDA reporting requirements, which allow persons 90 days to report
their transactions to the-U.S. Department bf Agriculture (USDA). Consequently, not all transactions occurring in
the 90 days preceding the closing date of the report are reported to USDA by that date. Some of the bias is also
due to reports that are filed late and/or are incomplete. This means that the 1996 data and, in some cases, data for
prior years are understated and should bejregarded as preliminary.

Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land remained relatively steady from 1981 through 1996--slightly above .
or below 1 percent of all privately owned agricultural land in the United States (fig. 3). Most changes were in
forestland, rising from 7.2 million acres in 1981 to 8.1 million in 1984, falling to 6 million in 1989, increasing to
7.3 million in 1991, declining to 6.6 million in 1994, rising to 7.5 million in 1995, and returning to 7.3 million in
1996. These changes are mainly due to million-acre-plus transactions by large timber companies. Reviewing the
crop, pasture, and other agriculture figures reveals a steady but relatively small increase in the numbers.

Cropland rose from 1.7 million acres in 1981 to 2.5 million in 1995; pasture, from 2.8 to 4.0 million acres;.and
other agriculture, from 0.5 to 0.9 million acres. .

Table 36--Dispositions of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land,
by size of disposition, January 1 - December 31, 1996

Owners Parcels Selling’
Size reporting reported Acres ¢ 000
(Acres) Number) | Number) (Number H
(Acres) (Number) — | (Number) (Number) Soars)
|

Less than 20 1 d 24. 179 1,993
20-59 25, 37 . 839 11,780
60-99 16, 26 1,229 : 4,632
100-299 37) 60 6,348 10,503
300-999 32, 57. 19,095 23,460
1,000 or more 27 402 2,385,924 1,023,266
Total 1 56, 606 2,413,614 1,075,634

‘ Selling price is value at time of disposition.

44



acres, is owned by unidentifiable ansel persons; that is, the acreage is not attributable to any foreign country
of origin because no foreign country of origin is listed through the third tier of ownership.

In the South, foreign persons from Germany own 632,981 acres or 14 percent of the:foreign-held acres (table 9).
Foreign persons from Singapore, Canada, and the United Kingdom, collectively own 1,424,547 acres or 31
percent. Three percent of the acreage, 139,494 acres, is owned by unidentifiable third-tier foreign persons.
Another 22 percent, 1,029,359 acres, is owned by foreign persons from Switzerland, the Netherlands Antilles,
Mexico, and the British Virgin Islands.

In the West, foreign persons from the United Kingdom own more acres than any other single group--18 percent.
Much of the U.K. figure is attributable to, three U.S./U.K. corporations that own 26 parcels covering 481,763
acres, Foreign persons from Germany, Canada, and Japan reported owning 1,464,292 acres or 32 percent. An
additional 1,105,178 acres, or 24 percent! were reported by foreign persons from the Netherlands, Mexico,’
Luxembourg, the Netherlands Antilles, and Switzerland.

In‘the Northeast, foreign persons from Canada own 2,379,757, or 63 percent of the foreign-held acreage. Ninety-
two percent of this figure, 2,179,311 acres, is attributable to four companies with extensive forest holdings--one .
Canadian company with partial interests in 77 parcels covering 1,064,579 acres, a second Canadian company
with 9 parcels covering 266,023 acres, a'U.S./Canada corporation with 41 parcels covering 727,207 acres, and a
second U.S./Canada corporation with 3 parcels covering 121,502 acres. A U.S./France corporation owns an
additional 24 percent of the foreign-held acreage in the Northeast, consisting of 13 parcels totaling 914,579 acres.

In the Midwest, foreign persons from Canada, Germany, the British Virgin Islands, and the United Kingdom
reported owning 953,758 acres, 64 percent of the foreign-held acreage in the region. An additional 10 percent of
the acreage is owned by multiple entities |(entities that have foreign owners from a number of countries, none of
whom has a predominant interest).

interest in Land

Of the 13,861 parcels of foreign-held US. agricultural land, 87 percent of the parcels, accounting for 83 percent
of the reported acreage, is held in fee interest whole (that is, the owner holds the estate in its entirety). Partial
interests are held in another 6 percent of the parcels covering another 13 percent of the acres (table 10).

Under the AFIDA regulations, leases of 10 years or longer are the only leases that need to be reported. “ Leases
are treated separately because they represent a different type of interest. Questions on value, tenure, and method
of acquiring land do not apply because the report form was not devised to deal with leases. Leases cover
1,072,888 acres of U.S. agricultural land. Timberland accounts for 390,911 acres, or 36 percent of the reported
foreign leaseholds.

Method of Acquisition

More foreign investors reported paying cash for their U.S. agricultural landholdings than any other method of ac-
. quisition--52 percent of the parcels, covering 33 percent of the acreage (table 10). This compares with 24 percent
of the parcels, containing 16 percent of the acreage, that were acquired by credit only, and 9 percent of the
parcels, containing 29 percent of the acreage, that were acquired by “other method only.” The “other method
only” category includes mergers, corporations that became foreign because foreign persons obtained a significant
interest or substantial control in the corporations, or an individual exchanging land for stock in a new corporation.
The “cash and credit only” category covers an additional 8 percent of the parcels and 12 percent of the acres.

47 CER. § 781.2© (1994).

16



Table 23--U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by country of foreign owner,
January 1 - December 31, 1996
Owners Parcels Value
‘i Acres
reporting reported (1,000
Country (Number) (Number) (Number) dollars) '
Australia 1 1 160 245
Austria 2 2 159 406
British Virgin Islands 3 8 13,879 2,483
Canada 15 38 290,734 2,747
Colombia 1 1 197 250
Denmark 2 2 313 735
Egypt 1 1 91 545
Germany 27 37 11,892 10,375
Gibraltar 1 1 7 403
Hong Kong 1 1 25 120
Italy 3 3 1,621 1,755
Japan 3 6 340 4,047
Liechtenstein 1 1 1,541 801
Mexico 3 4 945 569
Nepal 1 1 68 170
Netherlands 6 6 1,663 1,849
Netherlands Antilles 1 2 1,005 700
Singapore 4 13 484,759 246,342
Switzerland 3 3 1,344 1,234
Taiwan 1 1 8 1,011
United Kingdom 4 9 6,330 1,332
Venezuela 2 2 693 4,592

Subtotal ? 83 143 817,774 282,711
US/Australia 3 4 156 498
US/Austria 1 1 3,181 2,664
US/Bahamas 2 2 4,929 31,425
US/Belgium 1 6 368 2,512
US/Bermuda 2 4 1,703 1,339
US/British Virgin .

Islands 2 2 1,156 20,600
US/Canada 12 44 3,908 7,531
US/Cayman Islands 1 1 136 988
US/France 4 8 6,832 48,746
US/Germany 16 45 12,063 10,642
US/Japan 16 21 10,662 42,755
US/Liberia 1 1 580 2,500
US/Liechtenstein 1 1 971 480
US/Netherlands 1 6 431 1,176
US/Panama 2 2 80 62
US/Philippines ~ 1 1 274 495
US/Singapore 1 17 537,918 520,050
US/Spain 2 6 2,720 1,935
US/Switzerland 4 4 1,489 915
US/Taiwan 1 1 1,119 1,790
US/United Arab Emirates 1 3 204 918
US/United Kingdom 9 19 6,897 9,399
US/multiple 1 1 22 495

Subtotal * 85 200 597,799 709,915
Total all

land acquisitions 168 343 1,415,573 992,626

‘ Value is purchase price or nonpurchase price (estimated value).
2 Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
2 Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.

34



11.

12.

13,

14.

15.

List of Tables

USS. agricultural landholdings of foreign owners, by State,, December 31,1996 ......... weeds 5
U.S. agricultural landholdings, by type of foreign owner, December 31,1996 ............... 7
Foreign owners of U.S. agricultural landholdings, by State, December 31,1996 ............. 8
Foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings, by size of holding, December 31, 1996 ........ 9
Value of U.S. agricultural landholdings, by type of foreign owner, December 31, 1996 ........ 9
Value of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings, by date of acquisition,

December 31, 1996.00... 6... cece eee cece cence eee e cc eeeceuneceenveeenertens 10
Value of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings, by State, December 31,1996 ........ 12
U.S. agricultural landholdings, by country of foreign owner, December 31, 1996 .........00. 1B
Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural landholdings, by U.S. region, December 31, 1996 ..... 17

Foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings, by type of interest, method of acquisition,
and owner representative, December 31, 1996

Use of U.S. agricultural landholdings, by country of foreign owner, December 31, 1996 ...... 22
U.S. forest and other nonagricultural landholdings of foreign owners, by State,

December31, 1996 ......... cece ccc c cece e cece ence eee setuseeetevencnene tenes 25
U.S. forest and other nonagricultural landholdings, by country of foreign owner,

December 31,1996 ...... 0... cece cece cece eee cence ee ceesaeteeteveeneentenees 26
U.S. forest and other nonagricultural landholdings, by type of foreign owner,

December 31,1996 ....... 0.0.0 c ccc cce cece ence ects ee ceeneveeeeeeeeennneneenes 28
Foreign-owned U.S. forest and other nonagricultural landholdings, by size of holding,

December 31,1996 ...... 0.0.0... ccc c cece cece cece ee eeeeeeeeeceeeeennutereeenns 28
Intended use of U.S. agricultural landholdings of foreign owners, December 31, 1996........ 28

Tenure of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings, December 31, 1996
U.S. agricultural land acquisitions of foreign owners, by State, January 1-December 31, 1996 . . 30

U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by type of foreign owner, January 1-December 31, 1996... . 31

iii



Table 13--U.S. forest and other nonagricultural landholdings,
by country of foreign owner, December 31, 1996---Continued

(Number)
Country Owners Parcels Acres

US/China 1 3 1,068
US/Denmark 4 4 5,176
US/Dominican Republic 1 1 589
US/Finland 1 4 2,152
US/France 17 147 980,188
US/Germany 39 450 172,991
US/Greece 1 1 147
US/Ireland 1 4 1,612
US/Japan 15 22 72,456
US/Kenya 1 1 32
US/Kuwait 1 1 772
US/Liberia 4 4 3,520
US/Liechtenstein 2 3 6,648
US/Luxembourg 1 1 8
US/Mexico 1 1 63
US/Netherlands 8 9 10,092
US/Netherlands Antilles 8 13 1,673
US/Norway 1 1 25
US/Panama 5 6 2,328
US/Philippines 3 3 796
US/Qatar 1 1 219
US/Saudi Arabia 3 6 3,106
US/Singapore 1 7 91,922
US/Switzerland 16 30 57,673
US/Taiwan 3 3 714
US/United Kingdom 53 231 458,190
US/Uruguay 1 1 77
US/Venezuela 5 6 3,192
US/multiple 5 15 161,391
US/third tier 4 17 73,792

Subtotal ? 275 1,580 3,675,218
Total 942 2,727 6,120,895

' Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
? Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.



Table 8--U.S. agricultural landholdings, by country of foreign owner,
December 31, 1996
(Number)

, Country Owners Parcels Acres
Argentina 37 45 12,578
Australia 19° 22 6,819
Austria 60 89 29,486
Bahamas 37 54 36,325
Belgium 88 104 . 66,085
Belize . 4 6 549
Bermuda 50 . 66 73,615
Bolivia 2 2 . 11
Brazil 10 19 ° 10,336
British Virgin Islands 30 103 181,278
Canada 1,348 1,687 1,839,886
Cayman Islands 45 56 23
Chile 7 10 2,055
China . 6 8 756
Colombia 32 38 11,601
Costa Rica 8 10 13,835
Croatia 2 2 1,023
Cuba 3 4 58
Czech Republic 2 2 347
Denmark : 17 20 13,241
Dominican Republic 12 12 2,108
Ecuador 21 27 951
Egypt . 14 16 2,167
EI Salvador _ 3 3. 128
France 146 189 129,916
Gambia . 1 1 294
Germany 1,065 1,823 759,352
Gibraltar 2 3 478
Greece . 14 20 60,091
Guatemala . 10 1 1,102
Guyana 1 1 . 35
Honduras 12 12 1,018
Hong Kong 62 90 15,086
Hungary 1 4d 103
India 13 17 1,784
Indonesia 4 6 1,423.
Iran 20 23 2,343
Ireland . 5 +13 10,406
Israel 5 6 951
Italy . 36 47 38,930
Ivory Coast 1 1 119
Jamaica 4 4 567
Japan 117 156 202,100
Jordan 16 18 1,580
Kampuchea 1 1 31
Korea (South) 9 10 1,855,
Kuwait an) 16 20,188

* Laos 1 . 1 31
Lebanon. . 32 43 12,664
Liberia 16 24. 30,981
Liechtenstein 115 166 133,294
Luxembourg 6. 8 3,109
Malaysia 4 8 7,948
Mexico . 231 293 179,999
Morocco 2 5 1,085
Namibia 2 3° 197
Nepal . 1 1 68
Netherlands 247 326 112,324
Netherlands Antilles 287 376 354,661
New Zealand 5 6 14,011
Nicaragua . 3 4 1,378
Norway ‘ 18 18 4,084
Oman 2 5 454
Pakistan 7 7 982
Panama 125 154 120,114
Peru 19 20 308



Tablé 9--Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural landholdings, by U.S. region,
December 31, 1996---Continued
(Number)
Country South West Northeast Midwest
Parcels Acres Parcels Acres Parcels Acres Parcels Acres

US/ran 3 955 3 906 oO 0 0 0
US/Iraq oO 0 1 800 0 oO 0 0
USfreland 10 1,942 oO 0 0 0 0 0
US/srael 0 0 3 414 0 oO O 0
US/Italy 18 107,726 2 410 5 984 1 91
US/Japan 71 21,534 163 211,607 13 66,323 105 14,996
US/Jordan i) oO 3 434 O 0 0 oO
US/Kenya 1 32 0 0 0 oO 0 0
US/Korea (South) 1 10 1 75 0 0o oO 0
US/Kuwait 5 1,196 4 6,066 1 772 3 296
US/Lebanon 3 258 oO 0 2 153 oO oO
US/Liberia 6 2,451 5 18,603 5 3,590 O O
US/Libyan Arab Republic 0 oO 3 280 o 0 0 0
US/Liechtenstein 36 71,134 49 24,026 3 670 12 6,343
US/Luxembourg 14 11,866 15 222,241 1 94 4 350
US/Malaysia o 0 1 300 0 0 O 0
US/Malta 1 500 0 0 O 0 0 0
US/Mexico 45 46,859 39 204,362 2 138 16 3,185
US/Netherlands. 118 56,513 87 234,958 17 3,533 122 87,850
US/Netherlands Antilles 86 146,320 29 54,305 5 1,335 2 6,558
US/New Hebrides i) i) 1 883 0 0 0 0
US/New Zealand 3 2,725 1 46,678 0 0 0 0
US/Nicaragua 2 282 0 i) i) 0O 0 0
US/Norway 7 8,161 0 0 3 1,548 0 0
US/Pakistan 0 oO 1 423 0 ) 0 O
US/Panama 45 37,177 48 101,558 11 4,687 8 2,451
US/Paraguay 1 236 0 0 0 0 0 0
US/Peru 5 1,696 0 oO 0 0O oO 0
US/Philippines W 8,396 2 223 1 631 O O
US/Portugal 2 1,683 0 0 o 0 i) 0
US/Qatar 1 219 0 to) 0 0 0 ty)
US/Saudi Arabia 23 10,253 to) 0 0 to) 2 353
US/Singapore 12 92,467 0 0 0 0 0 0
US/South Africa 3 2,573 O O to) 0 1 160
US/Spain 25 6,288 10 2,680 2 1,548 1 50
US/Sweden 4 3,167 1 1,085, 1 107 4 874
US/Switzerland 210 197,514 118 58,550 40 45,659 82 32,176
US/Taiwan 13 31,605 53 10,203 2 699 5 3,641
US/Thailand oO i) 3 252 i) 0 0 oO
US/Trinidad & Tobago 1 20 0 i) o 0 0 0
US/Turkey 2 443 0 0 0 0 0 oO
US/United Arab Emirates 21 4,747 ty) 0 oO ) 0 0
US/United Kingdom 518 252,403 171 647,159 76 46,589 151 86,595
US/Uruguay 2 655 oO 0 0 i) 1 40
US/Venezuela 49 37,821 1 1,500 7 861 0 i)
US/multiple 49 10,962 17 6,861 4 17,609 15 142,635
US/third tier 22 128,930 9 44,055 1 702 2 350

Subtotal ? 3,137 2,320,274 1,359 2,878,387 517 2,159,250 1,026 © 1,006,375
Total all

landholdings 6,720 4,625,977 3,100 4,545,964 1,801 3,804,462 2,240 ° 1,487,867

‘ Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
? Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.



Table 8--U.S. agricultural landholdings, by country of foreign owner,
December 31, 1996---Continued
(Number)
Country: Owners Parcels Acres
US/Italy 20 26 109,211
US/Japan 210 352 314,460
US/Jordan 3 3 434
US/Kenya 1 1 32
US/Korea (South) 2 2 85
US/Kuwait 7 13 8,330
US/Lebanon 4 5 4i1
US/Liberia 13 16 24,644
US/Libyan Arab Republic 2 3 280
US/Liechtenstein 56 100 102,173
US/Luxembourg 23 34 234,551
US/Malaysia 1 1 300
US/Malta 1 1 . 500
US/Mexico 49 102 254,544
US/Netherlands 97 344 382,854
US/Netherlands Antilles 103 141 208,518
US/New Hebrides 1 1 883
US/New Zealand 3 4 49,403
US/Nicaragua 1 2 282
US/Norway 6 10 9,709
US/Pakistan 1 1 423
US/Panama 61 112 145,873
US/Paraguay 1 1 236
US/Peru 3 5 1,696
US/Philippines 10 14 9,250
US/Portugal 2 2 1,683
US/Qatar 1 1 219
US/Saudi Arabia 9 25 10,606
US/Singapore 4 12 92,467
US/South Africa 3 4 2,733
US/Spain 16 38 10,566
US/Sweden 9 10 5,233
US/Switzerland 200 450 333,899
US/Taiwan 52 73 46,148
US/Thailand 1 3 252
US/Trinidad & Tobago 1 1 20
US/Turkey 1 2 443
US/United Arab Emirates 3 21 4,747
US/United Kingdom 211 916 1,032,746
US/Uruguay 3 3 695
US/Venezuela 33 57 40,182
US/multiple 40 85 178,067
US/third tier 16 34 174,037
Subtotal ? 2,102 6,039 8,364,286
Total all
landholdings 7,664 13,861 14,464,270
‘ Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
? Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
Persons from the top 10 (of 94) countries own a combined total of 10,755,135 acres, or 74 percent of all reported
foreign-owned holdings of U.S. agricultural land. Foreign persons from Canada own the largest amount of
reported foreign-held acres of U.S. agricultural land, 3,657,243 acres, or 25 percent. Foreign persons from an
additional three countries own more than 1,000,000 acres per country, including Germany and the United
Kingdom (U.K.) (11 percent each), and France (9 percent); collectively, these three countries own 4,412,639
acres or 31 percent of the foreign-held acres of U.S. agricultural land. In excess of 400,000 acres per country are
owned by foreign persons from Switzerland, Singapore, the Netherlands Antilles, Japan, the Netherlands, and the
British Virgin Islands, representing 23 percent of total acres. Approximately 1.0 percent of the acreage, 187,535
15



Table 14--U.S.'forest and other nonagricultural landholdings,
by type of foreign owner, December 31, 1996

(Number)
Parcels with Acreage
partial - 2
Owner Owners Parcels Acres interests ' equivalent
Individual 408 502 118,178 42 115,158
Corporation 381 1,881 5,180,330 169 4,063,303
Partnership 120 269 299,241 19 295,184
Estate 1 1 14 to) 14
Trust ai 50 34,645 1 34,121
Other 1 24 488,487 i} 488,487
Total 942 2,727 6,120,895 231 4,996,267

‘ Parcels with partial interests are parcels owned

percent.

Lay in part by the foreign investor; that is, a percentage interest less than 100

2 Acreage.equivalent equals the total acreage reported multiplied by the percentage held by the foreign owner.

Table 15--Foreign-owned U.S. forest and other nonagricultural landholdings,
by size of holding, December 31, 1996

Size Owners Parcels Acres
(Acres) (Number) (Number) (Number)
Less than 20 129 133 1,454
20-59 205 222 6,937
60-99 89 103 6,779
100-299 181 229 30,242
300-999 147 269 82,733
1,000 or more 191 1,771 5,992,750
Total 942 2,727 6,120,895
Table 16--Intended use)of U.S. agricultural landholdings of foreign owners,
December 31, 1996
(Number)
Item No change Other agriculture Other non- Not reported Total
9 agriculture P
Individual:
Parcels reported 3,495 192 90 56 3,833
Acres 834, 353 58,133 6,426 9,738 908,650
Organization:
Parcels reported 8,439 526 883 179 10,028
Acres 12,747,561 269,848 387,245 150,830 13,555,620
Total:
Parcels reported 11,934 "718 973 . 235 13,861
Acres 13,58) 1914 327,981 393,671 160,568 14,464,270

28



For recent acquisitions, purchase price generally will be close to, but not necessarily the Same as, current
value. As time passes, purchase price becomes a poor indicator of current value. For this reason, reported
current value by date of acquisition was|adjusted to January 1996 for all years prior to 1996 (table 6). The
total adjusted current value indicates a 14-percent increase from the reported current value. The adjustment
factor was based on the national average change in farmland value over time. The adjusted current values are
not presented as absolute values for the foreign-owned land in this report but should be viewed as
approximations of change in value.

The data in table 6 are not intended in any manner to indicate trends over time in the level of acquisitions by
foreign persons. (See table 40 for trends data.) Acreage owned in the years listed is the total amount of land
that was reported purchased during that! year and which remained foreign owned as of December 31, 1996.
Because land is disposed of by foreign owners or there are changes in status from foreign to nonforeign or
from agricultural to nonagricultural, acreage amounts in each year are reduced by these land dispositions or

status changes.
Table 6--Value|of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings,
by date of acquisition, December 31, 1996
Acres with Acres with
purchase Purchase non- Non-purchase
Date Parcels Acres price price * purchase price '
acquired (Number) | (Number) | reported (1,000 price (1,000
(Number) dollars) reported dollars)
(Number)
|
1996 334 969,657 968,293 558,629 1,364 2,871
1995 515 432,314 413,436 220,278 18,878 25,703
1994 418 1,154,817 173,225 181,023 981,592 167,187
1993 478 602,123 413,021 211,892 189,102 60,346
1992 589 520,864 320,725 333,411 200,139 72,526
1991 562 281,834 248,601 329,838 - 33,233 61,533
1990 798 879,252 696,599 550,153 182,653 164,624
1989 602 990,001 909,583 667,177 105,948 84,079
1988 561 953,566 778,643 645,804 174,923 64,947
1987 424 428,860 336,357 269,087 92,503 50,426
1986 443 454,429 238,670 293,754 215,759 178,784
1985 313 334,284 234,468 300,981 99,816 41,221
1984 417 450,192 394,961 348,509 55,231 141,684
1983 499 270,913 246,249 353,465 24,664 19,952
1982 627 525,332 328,087 447,978 197,245 66,884
1981 1,046 933,136 742,913 732,570 190,223 93,772
1980 950 593,386 565,370 752,352 28,016 43,646
1979 1,038 822,675 779,001 1,049,168 43,674 25,926
1978 867 449,934 441,477 437,022 8,457 7,210
1977 466 355,91 3 346,187 297,841 9,726 5,644
1976 365 411,266 338,278 183,445 72,988 9,295
1975 216 165,749 162,444 92,261 3,305 1,714
1970-74 674 431,175 391,419 247,329 39,756 10,633
1960-69 433 502,114 413,286 79,729 88,828 8,422
Before 1960 226 550,484 459,807 24,382 90,677 4,401
Total 13,861 14,464,270 11,341,100 9,608,078 3,148,700 1,413,430

Continued---

10



Appendi:

Formerty ASCS-153, use old stock.

Report Form FSA-153

Form Approved - OMts No. 0560-0097

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Farm Service Agency

FSA-153°

(03-19-96)

AGRICULTURAL FOREIGN INVESTMENT DISCLOSURE ACT REPORT

1. TYPE ACTIVITY (See Reverse) (Check one)

A: Holding G 8 tlation im

C. Land fm
Disposition !

D.tan Use crarge E. Land Use ChangeTo = >
NOTE: Read Instructions on reverse Before Filing in Any Date Batow. If Additions! Space is Needed, Use Reverse. To Agrcuture ‘Non-Aaricuture !
ITEM | OFFICE ITEM
2, Tract Location and Description | onty _[5. Type of Interest Held In the Agricultural Land (Check One) T__ cHEGK
K-CEGAL DESCRIPTION OR FSA TRACT NUMBER i ‘A. Fee Interest (ownership) Whole
1 B. Fee Interest (ownership) Partial =“ fttMenr *
| C. Life Estate
“B-COUNTY OR PARISH C.NO-OF ACRES: D. Trust Beneficiary
D. STATE - Ls Contract
| F. Other (explain)
3 Owner of Tract (in fem 2A) (See Reverse) |
NEME
6. How was this Tract Acquired or Transferred? CHECK
‘BID NO. (Nine digitsy Tees ENO. A. Cash Transaction
NOT KNOWN B._ Credit or Installment Transaction
Tr TEGAL ADDRESS (Siree?, City, Slate/Province, Country) ©. Trade
D. Gift or Inheritance = -
E. Foreclosure
F. Other (explain)
D. Type of Owner (Check One)
1. Individual (including usband’wife) ;
a. Citizen T | 7. Value of Agricultural Land
7 “1A. Purchase Price of Land or ifa land dispo- |
2. Goverment (name of country) i | n, the original price paid by seller s
3, Organ | B. Non-Purchase, Estimated Value atthe |
ve Est $
5 1 Time of Acquisition
}) Corporation
C, What is the estimated current value or if a
2) Partnership I land disposition, the selling price of the
3) Exate ~ 7 1 tract of land? s _
- D. How much of purchase price in Item 7A
4) Trust | remains to be paid?
5) Instttion l ! 8. Date of Requisition or 7 MONTH [BAY TERR
@) Association | I Transfer (See Reverse) | | i
° 7) Other I I |
Gavi or coum ai r 9, Current Land Use (Usual use of land. For idle land,
Pre ogantgdon os ceaed i | report as other Agricufture,) Report in Whole Numbers | ACRES
C. Principal place of business (for | A. Crop I
organizations only) _|e Pasoxe t
ar Last nr SepaTaTe SHERI, Ure Name, Adare and Couny oF alr
foreign persons who individually or in the aggregate | hold significant C. Forest or Timber
ferest or substantial control 1/ in the person owning the land] D. Other Agriculture ~ —
E, Complete only ifitem 4C - Land Disposition -Is checked | _ JE. Non-Agricuture H — ~
“NAME OF PERSON RECEIVING TRACT F Toa (Should SpeTEC) + - -
70, Intended Use as of This Date (Check One) CHECK

“SADDRESS TSIEET. Cy, STATETP FOWIRCE, COURTS]

“S CiTIZENSHIP 7

'A._No Change

B. Other Agriculture

[C. Non-Agriculrure

USA) FOREIGN |. UNKNOWN, 71. Relationship of Owner to Producer (If applicable) CHECK
T. Representative of Foreign Person (completing form, applicable) | at! st
WE JA. Producer is: :
| 4. Owner i
B. ADDRESS (Street State, County) 2. Manager
3. Tenant or sharecropper
B. Rental agreement is: ;
“Cr TELEPHONE NO (Wea COR} | 4. A crop share
D. Relationship of Representative to Foreign Person [CHECK] 2 Cashoor fixed rent :
4. Atorey —
i Manager I ; 12. The Producer on This Tract Is:~ | CHECK
3. Agent | 1 ‘A. ‘The same person as when the tract was acquired ~~
i

“4. Other (Explain on Reverse) |

B.A new person

3. CERTIFICATION - [certify that the Information entered in this report is comp)

to. civil penalty not to exceed 25% of the fair market value of the interest hel

Tete and correct. [understand that falsification of reporting 1s subject
in the tract of land.

“TE SIGNATURE” {Owner or Tegally autnonzed representalivey

pace

[RTE

54



reported within 90 days of such changes. Failure to comply with AFIDA subjects the foreign owner to a
possible.civil penalty of.up to 25 percent of the fair market value of the interest held in the land in question.

In accordance with section 7 of the act, ¢ ompleted report forms are made available for public inspection in
Washington, DC, within 10 days of receipt by the Secretary. Section 6 of the act requires that every 6 months
the Secretary transmit to each State completed report forms for foreign-owned agricultural land in that State.

Definitions

For this report, the term "holdings" applies to all U.S. agricultural land owned by foreign persons as of
December 31, 1996. For transactions that occurred in 1996, the terms " "acquisitions" and "dispositions" refer
to U.S. agricultural lands acquired or disposed of by foreign persons. These terms are used as the titles for
subsequent sections, which analyze the teported data.

"Agricultural land" is defined in the act/as all land used for agricultural, forestry, or timber production. ‘The
regulations further define agricultural land as all land used for farming, ranching, or timber and include
currently idle land if its last use within the past 5 years was for farming, ranching, or timber production. The
regulations also exempt all agricultural land not more than 10 acres in the aggregate if the annual gross
receipts from the sale of farm, ranch, or)timber products from such land do not exceed $1,000.

AFIDA requires reporting "any interest} in the land other than a security interest (a mortgage or other debt-
securing instrument). The regulations exempt leaseholds of less than 10 years’ duration, contingent future
interests, noncontingent future interests|that do not become possessory upon termination of the present estate,
nonagricultural easements and rights-of-way, and interests solely in mineral rights.

A "foreign person," as defined in the act, includes any individual who: (1) is not a U.S. citizen or national, (2)
is not a citizen of the Northern Mariana Islands or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; or (3) is not
lawfully admitted into the United States for. permanent residence. Any person who holds an Immigration and
Naturalization Service Form I-151 or I-551 (green card) is considered lawfully admitted for permanent
residence and is exempt from the requirements of the act. Foreign governments, entities which are created
under the laws of or have their principal place of business in a foreign country, and U.S. entities in which
there is a significant foreign interest or Substantial control are also defined as foreign persons under the act.

For this study, individuals are defined as one person or a husband and wife. The "partnership" category
includes all legally defined partnerships, joint ventures, and tenancies in common that include two or more
persons who are not married. The term partnership does not differentiate between joint tenancies and
tenancies in common. In the interest of simplicity and brevity, fine legal distinctions, however important in an
individual case, are ignored.

Each foreign entity holding land is required to file a report. Therefore, if two individuals own land as a
partnership, the partnership is to file oni

¢ report as a partnership, with the partners’ names and citizenship listed
on the back of the form. Occasionally, however, two people will file as individuals, each filing a separate

report on the same land with a partial interest of, for example, 49 percent listed on each form. Because it is

not always possible to distinguish sepa:

ate reports for the same land, two such individuals cannot be

differentiated from one partnership. This may occur when there is no legal partnership but individuals own
the land as tenants in common. If they file together on one form, they are automatically considered a part-

nership. If they file separately, they are generally considered individuals. Therefore, the data on individuals
and partnerships and the number of reported parcels should be used with caution.



No change in intended use was reported for 94 percent of the acres (table 16).. Intended use changes to other
agricultural usage were reported for holders of 2 percent of the acres. Reports for 3 percent of the acres indicate
that some change to nonagricultural use is intended. Such reports do not necessarily mean, however, that all of
these acres will be changed. What thé reports do mean is that the holders of these acres intended to change the
use of some of the acreage. However, the report form does not ask how many acres will be involved. Reports
representing 1 percent of the acres did not indicate intended use.

Tenure

Tenants and foreign owners operate 38 and 30 percent of the parcels of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land,
respectively, whereas managers operate only 11 percent of the parcels (table 17). No responses to the tenure
question were received for the remaining 21 percent of the parcels. Tenants operate 25 percent of the acres,
while foreign owners directly operate 51 percent and managers 9 percent. No responses on tenure were received
for the remaining 15 percent of the acres.

Rental agreements were reported for 4,601 parcels, or 33 percent, covering 22 percent of the acres. Of the rental
agreements, cash agreements accounted for 72 percent and cropshare agreements for 27 percent of the parcels.

‘Tenure Change

No tenure changes were reported for 46 percent of the parcels, or 57 percent of the acres (table 17). Reports for
32 percent of the parcels containing 27 percent of the acres indicate a new tenure arrangement on at least part of
the land. The acreage affected by the new tenure arrangements is not reported. Thus, the acreage may be

Table 12--U.S. forest and other nonagricultural landholdings of foreign owners, by State,
December 31, 1996 ’

(Number)
State | State
and U.S, and U.S. Parcels Acres
Territory Parcels Acres . Territory

Alabama 311 214,177] || Missouri ‘ 1 3,264
Alaska 1 110} Montana 10 1,033
Arizona 1 13]! [|New Hampshire . 22 13,540 -
‘Arkansas 18 107,092]! || New Jersey 2 262.
California 27 232,065] || New Mexico 3 9,450:
Colorado 7 3,146] |New York 151 230,479
Connecticut 4 117] [North Carolina 50 23,067
Florida 61 81,9411) || Ohio 14 7,231
Georgia 463 292,102}) ||Oklahoma 1 66
Hawaii 2 289!) |]Oregon 26 * 47,749
Idaho 2 156]]° || Pennsylvania 149 47,604
Mlinois 22 3,143] |! South Carolina 155 99,056"
Indiana 8 998]! |/Tennessee . 37 35,652
Kansas 1 20} Texas _ ‘ 34 12,617
Kentucky 71 46,390]) |/Utah 1 19
Louisiana 32 566,270}) || Vermont 200 56,805
Maine 186 3,168,378] || Virginia 211 53,305,
Maryland : 4 364) || Washington 116 95,808
Massachusetts 7 1,589]] || West Virginia 159 139,821
Michigan 82 - 323,710) [Wisconsin 12 4,297
Minnesota 80 193,033}

Mississippi 23 4,667) Total 2,727 6,120,895



Table 11--Use of U.S. agricultural landholdings by country of foreign owner,

December 31, 1996

(Acres)
| Other Other non-
Country creplan Pasture Forest agriculture agriculture Total

Argentina 3,453 7,991 788 184 162 12,578
Australia 1,313 786 1,001 2,867 852 6,819
Austria 7,775 2,577 18,132 702 + 300 29,486
Bahamas 10,979 14,588 7,749 2,384 625 36,325
Belgium 7,513 53,632 2,041 2,023 876 66,085
Belize 25 235 232 55 2 549
Bermuda 6,150 17,122 47,227 1,678 1,438 73,615
Bolivia 10 ) te) 1 0 1
Brazil 1,226 8,528 139 431 12 10,336
British Virgin |

Islands 5,449 115,134 57,177 3,147 371 181,278
Canada 171,114 175,801 1,404,811 63,606 24,554 1,839,886
Cayman Islands 7,937 24,121 2,991 1,169 405 36,623
Chile 503 441 556 544 iB 2,055
China, 473 218 27 i) 38 756
Colombia 1,278 9,910 47 323 43 11,601
Costa Rica 7,005 4,150 120 167 2,393 13,835
Croatia 928 1) 10 to) 85 1,023
Cuba 39 oO 3 12 4 58
Czech Republic 167 153 0 27 0 347
Denmark 5,599 630 6,407 118 487 13,241
Dominican Republic 1,987 0 1) 1 120 2,108
Ecuador 207 92 O 646 6 951
Egypt 478 922 384 335 48 2,167
El Salvador 29 0 50 to) 49 128
France 25,327 82,695 10,847 7,718 3,329 129,916
Gambia | 294 i) 0 - 294
Germany 314,704 149,988 229,637 50,007 15,016 759,352
Gibraltar 137 163 O 177 1 47
Greece 971 58,765 174 85 96 60,091
Guatemala 413 212 363 35 79 1,102
Guyana Jo 0 0 35 0 35
Honduras 867 32 5 60 54 1,018
Hong Kong 3,931 2,723 4,269 4,052 11 15,086
Hungary [0 0 103 0 103
India 390 84 840 427 43 1,784
Indonesia 718 295 6 403 1 1,423
Iran 1,063 552 521 99 108 2,343
treland 1,413 6,583 20 24 2,366 10,406
Israel 245 349 217 129 asi 951
Italy 4,484 13,386 1,590 6,218 13,252 38,930
Ivory Coast to) t) 80 39 le) 119
Jamaica } 291 O 273 3 567
Japan 27,629 148,755 2,924 16,202 6,590 202,100
Jordan 321 855 273 129 2 1,580
Kampuchea \27 0 0 0 4 31
Korea (South) 256 222 363 1,006 8 1,855
Kuwait 801 18,984 323 67 13 20,188
Laos [0 16 10 5 0 31
Lebanon 4,241 3,880 1,833 1,747 963 12,664
Liberia 1,062 23,611 4,298 1,150 860 30,981
Liechtenstein 67,366 37,776 17,127 6,824 4,201 133,294
Luxembourg 2,138 489 180 O 302 3,109
Malaysia 1,735 6,211 oO ty) 2 7,948
Mexico 221594 145,400 2,903 3,301 5,871 179,999
Morocco 433 83 7 482 30 1,035
Namibia 185 0 8 0 4 197
Nepal [0 60 8 ) () 68
Netherlands 40,550 35,245 13,089 15,677 7,763 112,324
Netherlands Antilles 146,765 81,069 49,348 58,164 19,315 354,661
New Zealand +235 13,450 224 7 95 14,011
Nicaragua [0 970 248 60 100 1,378
Norway 2,988 647 154 225 70 4,084
Oman 120 126 126 43 39 454
Pakistan 935 0 14 0 33 982



Table

34,

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land by foreign owners, by citizenship of purchasers,
January 1-December 31, 1996

Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land, by type of foreign owner,
January 1-December 31, 1996 ....

Dispositions of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land, by size of disposition,
January 1-December 31,1996 ........ ccc cece cece cece cee enc euseaeuteneueeneenes 44

Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land, by country of foreign owner,
January 1-December 31, 1996

Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land, by country of foreign owner and U.S. region,
January 1-December 31,1996 ....... 6... cece ccc ee cect eee e eee n ee eaee 46

Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land, by country of foreign owner and use,
January 1-December 31, 1996 ..

Acquisitions and dispositions of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land, by date,
January 1981-December 1996 ....... 0.0... cece eee cece eee ence e eee ee cecneaueaes 48



Table
20. Foreign owners of U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by State,

January 1-December 31, 1996 oo cccececce cece cette beeeeeeeeeeeee tense nnee ens 32
21. Foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by size of acquisition,

January 1-December 31, 1996 occ cece eect e nett e nett n nee eee p eee ene 33
22. Value of U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by type of foreign owner,

January 1-December 31, 1996 ove e cece cece eect tenet teeter en beeen es 33
23. U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by country of foreign owner,

January 1-December 31, 1996 oo ceecccce cece ce ceeeeeeeeeeeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeennees 34
24. Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by. U.S. region,

January 1-December 31, 1996 0.2... 0. cece cece teen erent net e ete teen eee eee 35
25. Foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by type of interest, method of acquisition, and

owner representative, January 1-December 31, 1996 ......... 0... ee essence tee eee e eee 36
26. Use of U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by country of foreign owner,

January 1-December 31,1996 ...... 0. cece eee cence dente tere eee e teen ene es 37
27. US. forest and other nonagricultural land acquisitions of foreign owners, by State,

January 1-December 31,1996 ..... 0. ss cece cece eee eee eee eee e nett teen ence tees 38
28. U.S. forest and other nonagricultural land acquisitions, by country of foreign owner,

January 1-December 31, 1996 «0.06.06. cee cect eee eee ete ete ete ett ene eee 39
29. U.S. forest and other nonagricultural land acquisitions, by type of foreign owner,

January 1-December 31,1996 ...0. 6... ee eee eee eee eee eee nett ener n etn ence ee 39
30. Foreign acquisitions of U.S.|forest and other nonagricultural land, by size of acquisition,

January 1-December 31,1996 «0.1... 0. see cece eee eee nett teen e ete tent eee eee 40
31. Intended use of U.S. agricultural land acquisitions of foreign owners,

January 1-December 31, 1996 oo iceiecc cece cece eee e eset tenet teat ents ents eeeneee 40
32. Tenure of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, January 1-December 31, 1996 ... 41
33. Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land, by type of foreign owners, by State,

January 1-December 31, 4996 co occcccccccccceceeevececcecesebeestteeteeeennneees 42

iv



Table 7 adjusts reported current value by State for the same reasons given in the discussion of table 6.
Because the reported current value in table 7 is adjusted by each State’s average annual change in farmland
value, the total adjusted current value will differ from that of table 6. Simply explained, not all land values in
table 6 would have changed at the national average. Therefore, the total adjusted current value in table 7
should be a better measure of value than that of table 6. The total adjusted current value by State indicates a
21-percent increase from the reported current value.

Country of Origin. Of the 14,464,270 acres of foreign-held agricultural land reported by foreign persons, 58
percent is held by U.S. corporations with foreign interests. The remaining 42 percent is held by foreign
persons not connected with a U.S. corporation (table 8).

Table 6--Value of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings,
by date of acquisition, December 31, 1996---Continued

Acres with current value Reported current value 2 Adjusted current value °

Date acquired reported (Number) (1,000 dollars) (1,000 dollars)
1996 969,657 550,785 550,785
1995 432,314 250,345 260,359
1994 1,154,817 349,130 384,043
1993 602,123 274,597 321,278
1992 520,864 410,360 496,536
1991 281,834 395,061 481,974
1990 879,252 700,720 868,893
1989 990,001 760,911 966,357
1988 953,566 716,956 967,891
1987 428,860 326,501 457,101
1986 454,429 436,988 598,674
1985 334,246 311,995 383,754
1984 449,987 489,768 528,949
1983 270,621 384,272 403,486
1982 523,965 563,819 563,819
1981 928,403 845,368 803,100
1980 512,700 658,185 658,185
1979 747,736 910,662 1,001,728
1978 377,963 444,231 488,654
1977 297,816 466,000 512,600
1976 359,697 216,743 238,417
1975 107,769 112,849 124,134
1970-74 299,334 331,188 364,307
1960-69 293,562 153,973 169,370
Before 1960 532,877 91,997 : 101,197

Total 13,704,393 11,153,404 12,695,590

" Purchase price and nonpurchase price (estimated value) at time of acquisition.
? Reported current value reflects value at time of reporting after February 1, 1979.
* Reported current value adjusted to January 1, 1996, Reported current value for holdings acquired in 1996 is unadjusted.



Foreign Ownership Of U.S. Agricultural Land
Through December 31, 1996

Charles H. Barnard and Jacqueline Stokes*

A Report to the President and the Congress
Under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978

Introduction

Foreign individuals and entities reported owning 14.5 million acres of U.S. agricultural land as of December
31, 1996. This:is slightly more than 1 percent of all privately owned U.S. agricultural land and
approximately 0.64 percent of all land in the United States.

Summary of the Act and Regulations

The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA), ' as implemented by the regulations, ”
required all foreign persons holding agricultural land as of February 1, 1979, to file a report of such holdings
with the Secretary of Agriculture by August 1, 1979. All foreign persons who acquire or dispose of
agricultural land thereafter are required to report such transactions within 90 days of the transfer. In addition,
any foreign person who holds land that subsequently becomes or ceases to be agricultural land or any person
who holds agricultural land who subsequently becomes or ceases to be a foreign person must also file a report
within 90 days of such change.

AFIDA specifies in detail the information to be supplied by the foreign person and provides that necessary
additional information may be obtained by the Secretary. The information required tobe reported consists of
the legal name and address of the foreign person; citizenship, if an individual; if not an individual or a
government, nature of the legal entity, including the entity’s country of creation and principal place of
business; type of interest; legal description; acreage; purchase price or any other consideration given; intended
use; where applicable, information about the representative of the foreign person; how the interest in the land
was transferred; the relationship of the foreign owner to the operator; type of rental agreement, if any; and the
date the interest in the land was transferred. In the case of a disposition, the party disposing of the interest is
also required to give the legal name and address of the purchaser; citizenship, if the purchaser is an individual;
and if the purchaser is not an individual or government, the nature of the entity, country of creation, and
principal place of business. Any change in the legal name or address of the foreign person must also be

*Charles H. Barnard, Agricultural Economist and Jacqueline Stokes, Statistical-Assistant, co-authored this report.
Joyce Su provided data processing assistance. John Jones assisted with graphics. Resource Economics Division,
Economic Research Service.

' Pub. L. No. 95-460, 7 U.S.C. §§ 3501-3508 (1988).

> 7 CER. §§ 781.1-.6 (1994). See 7 CER. §§ 2.21(b)(29), .27(a)(12), .65(a)(30), and .84(a)(7) (1994) for the
delegation of authority.



Table 9--Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural landholdings, by U.S. region,
December 31,1996
(Number)
Country South West Northeast Midwest
Parcels Acres Parcels Acres Parcels Acres Parcels Acres
Argentina 35 5,834 6 4,866 3 1,798 1 80
Australia 9 4,025 5 1,440 3 419 5 935
Austria 61 23,534 5 1,149 6 575 17 4,228
Bahamas ..: 39 9,342 7 18,645 7 1,138 1 7,200
Belgium 26 10,943 55 51,777 12 802 "1 2,563
Belize 4 159 1 7 25 0 0 1 365
Bermuda 23 67,800 7 1,288 8 2,067 28 2,460
Bolivia 2 W Oo o oO oO i) 0
Brazil 16 9,839 1 320 1 137 1 40
British Virgin Islands 94 173,073 3 4,203 3 690 3 3,312
Canada 300 67,650 490 281,559 697 1,417,932 200 72,745
Cayman Islands 35 14,647 9 17,510 4 248 8 4,218
Chile 7 635 1 960 1 300 1 160
China =~ 6 569 1 95 0 O 1 92
Colombia 37 11,501 0 0 0 o 1 100
Costa Rica 8 2,845 1 10,840 0 0 1 150
Croatia 1 863 oO 0 0 to) 1 160
Cuba 4 58 0 0 0 i) 0 0
Czech Republic 1 27 0 o 0 0 1 320
Denmark 3 864 8 5,964 6 4,806 3 1,607
Dominican Republic 3 29 0 0 0 0 9 2,079
Ecuador 27 951 oO 0 i) 0 0 0O
Egypt 13 1,928 1 97 1 100 1 42
El Salvador 3 128 0 t) oO O oO 0
France 99 18,103 50 94,332 22 12,079 18 5,402
Gambia 1 294 0 ) ty) to) 0 0o
Germany 833 318,303 319 250,743 239 56,141 432 134,165
Gibraltar 3 478 O O oO 0 0 0
Greece al 57,972 2 1,439 2 90 5 590
Guatemala 8 553 0 oO 2 307 1 242
Guyana 1 35 i) 0 0 to) 0 o
Honduras 12 1,018 ) 0 O 0 0 oO
Hong Kong 34 6,628 45 5,814 7 1,657 4 987
Hungary i) o 0 0 1 103 i) 0
India 5 1,108 11 653 1 23 0 0
Indonesia 4 752 2 671 0 0 0 oO
Iran 5 396 7 481 5 788 6 678
Ireland 9 6,456 1 3,600 0 0 3 350
Israel 2 364 1 61 1 159 2 367
Italy 19 33,636 abl 1,684 5 860 12 2,750
Ivory Coast 0O 0 i) 0 1 119 0. 0
Jamaica 4 567 oO 0 0 0 t) t)
Japan 35 34,598 85 151,777 3 247 33 15,478
Jordan 12 719 1 571 2 229 3 61
Kampuchea oO O 0 0 0 O 1 31
Korea (South) 6 764 2 957 1 100 1 34
Kuwait 9 19,020 2 224 1 217 4 727
Laos 1 31 0 ) oO oO oO 0
Lebanon 24 7,198 5 2,410 4 239 10 2,817
Liberia 10 2,849 10 23,381 3 4,637 1 114
Liechtenstein 76 62,570 57 58,792 15 2,210 18 9,722
Luxembourg 3 2,289 2 505 2 29 1 286
Malaysia 4 . 40 4 7,908 i) 0 O 0
Mexico 264 146,518 23 32,577 1 27 5 877
Morocco 0 0 1 360 3 515 1 160
Namibia . 2 106 0 0 0 O 1 91
Nepal 1 68 0 0 0 0 0 O
Netherlands 170 49,068 59 36,190 32 10,070 65 16,996
Netherlands Antilles 216 175,094 95 149,213 31 6,578 34 23,776
New Zealand 4 13,661 2 350 i) ' oO 0 0
Nicaragua 4 1,378 0 1) O O o 0
Norway 2 654 2 201 0 0 14 3,229
Oman 4 192 1 262 oO 0 oO 0
Pakistan 0 0 7 982 0 0 _ 0 O



USDA unitedstates. An Economic Research Service Report

=—gg ~(DEPartment of
MEE Agriculture

eszz Foreign Ownership of U.S.
ERS Agricultural Land Through
‘weeos December 31, 1996

Charles H. Barnard
Jacqueline Stokes



Tenure

Foreign owners operate 42 percent of the parcels acquired during the period and 75 percent of the acres, whereas
tenants operate 20 percent of the parcels and 2 percent of the acres (table 32). Managers operate 7 percent of the
parcels and 1 percent of the acres. No responses on tenure were received for 31 percent of the parcels covering. 22
percent of the acres. Rental agreements applied to 20 percent of the parcels.covering 2 percent of the acres.

Tenure Change

' " Reports for 45 percent of the parcels acquired during the period indicate no tenure change for 96 percent of the
acreage (table 32). Reports for 31 percent of the parcels, containing 3 percent of the acres, indicated a tenure
change. Because the number of acres affected by new tenure arrangements was not reported, the acreage may be
overstated; that is, all of these acres are not necessarily affected by new tenure arrangements. No responses on
tenure change were made for 23 percent ofjthe parcels accounting for 1 percent of the acres.

Table 30--Foreign acquisitions of U.S. forest and other nonagricultural land, by size of acquisition,
. Jai

nuary 1 - December 31, 1996

Size Owners reporting Parcels reported Acres Value
(Acres) (Number) (Number) (Number) (1,000 dollars) *
Less than 20 2 2 18 26
20-59 5 5 176 1,046
60-99 5 10 371 353
100-299 7 13 1,267 1,675
300-999 12 24 6,719 43,944
1,000 or more 10 66 1,313,928 778,507
Total 4 120 1,322,479 825,551

* Value is purchase price or nonpurchase price (estimated value).

Table 31--Intended use of U.S. agricultural land acquisitions of foreign owners,
January 1 - December 31, 1996

(Number)
. Other non- saat
Item No change] |Other agriculture agriculture No report | Combination Total

Individual:

Parcels reported 47 1 1) 0 1) 58

Acres 12,714 1,106 0 ie) ie) 13,820
Organization:

Parcels reported 210 43 28 4 0 285

Acres 1,384,324 13,576 3,104 749 0 1,401,753
Total:

Parcels reported 257 54 28 4 lo) 343

Acres 1 397,038 14,682 3,104 749 0 1,415,573

40



appropriate. The "No report" category in the tables means that a response to the particular question was not
made. Note that the acreage figures reported do not mean that they are wholly owned by foreign investors. Of
the 14.5 million foreign-owned acres, 58 percent are owned by U.S. corporations in which there is a
significant interest or substantial control by foreign persons (table 8). In addition, a number of acres are
owned only in part by foreign investors.| Table 2 gives the acre equivalent for foreign owners reporting partial
interests in real estate. Partial interests reduce the 14.5 million to an equivalent of 13.0 million acres.

Analysis of Data Reported Under the Act

Holdings

Data in this section are derived from the 13,861 reports filed by foreign persons who held land as of
December 31, 1996. These report forms account for 14,464, 270 acres of all U.S. agricultural land. This is a
decrease of 833,107 acres from the 15, 297, 377 acres foreign owners reported owning as of the end of 1995.
This 833,107-acre decrease is less than the 2,413,614 acres disposed of during 1996, as reported in the
"Dispositions" section. Reasons for this difference include the occurrence of sizeable transactions made prior :
to December 31, 1995, the closing date of last year’s report, that were reported after that date, and because
several large parcels were both acquired and disposed of during 1996.

‘oncentration of Foreign Owners! Agricultural

Foreign persons have reported acreage holdings in all 50 States and Puerto Rico (table 1 and fig. 1). Except
for Maine (described below), only a small percentage of privately held agricultural land in the other 49 States
is foreign owned (table 1 and fig. 2). Deleting the acreage for Maine from the Northeast data, foreign __
investment in U.S. agricultural land is concentrated i in the South and West, containing 32 and 31 percent,
respectively, of all reported foreign holdings of U.S. agricultural land (table 9).

Maine has the largest amount of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land, 3,234,890 acres, or 18 percent of the
privately owned agricultural land in the \State and approximately 22 percent of the reported foreign-owned
agricultural land in the United States. Most of the foreign-owned agricultural land in Maine is 2,972,326 -
acres of (mostly) timber land owned by four companies. One company owns various percentage interests in
1,064,579 acres, another company owns 266,023 acres, a third company owns 914,517 acres, and the fourth
company, accounting for 727,207 acres! is a U.S. corporation with substantial foreign interests.

Hawaii, Nevada, and Arizona have the next largest proportions of reported foreign-owned agricultural land to
all privately owned agricultural land in their States. Texas has the second largest amount of foreign-owned
acreage, 1,184,309 acres, but that represents only 0.8 percent of the privately owned agricultural land in
Texas.

3 The 15,102,037 acrés reported in last year’s report understated the amount of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land
because of late filings and filing errors. The 1995 figure has been adjusted upward to 15,297,377 acres.

4



The act is designed to impute foreign person status to certain U.S. entities holding direct and indirect interests
in U.S. agricultural land. For purposes of the act, this is accomplished by defining each successive link in a
chain of U.S. entities containing foreign interests as a foreign person. However, only the foreign person who
actually holds the direct interest in the land (that is, the first layer or tier) is considered the reporting entity.
This entity need not actually be foreign, but under the act, it is deemed a foreign person because another
foreign person holds a significant interest or substantial control in it: In some instances, that second tier also
may not actually be foreign but may be deemed foreign under the act for the same reason. The regulations
define "significant interest or substantial control" to mean a 10-percent or more interest in the entity if held by
a single foreign person or a group of foreign persons acting in concert, or a 50-percent or more interest if held
by a group of foreign persons not acting in concert, none of whom individually holds a 10-percent or greater
interest in that entity.

Under the regulations, the reporting entity (other than an individual or government), whether domestic or
foreign, is required to provide information (names, addresses, citizenship, and the nature of the entity, if any)
on the second-tier investments; that is, all foreign persons holding a significant interest or substantial control
in the reporting entity. In turn, a second-tier entity may be required to provide information about foreign
persons who hold a significant interest or substantial control in that éntity.

When the foreign person is an individual from, or an entity created under the laws of, for example, Germany,
the report is processed as "Germany." Where persons from many different countries hold direct and indirect
interests in one piece of land, an attempt is made to identify the predominant country as the country of origin.
When there is no predominant country, for example, an equal partnership between a Canadian and a German,
the report is processed as "multiple." Reports filed by U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders are clas-
sified "U.S./- (foreign country)." For example, a U.S. corporation with a Canadian shareholder who has a
significant interest or substantial control is processed as "U.S./Canada.” Similarly, a U.S. corporation owned
by another U.S. corporation in which a Canadian corporation has a significant interest or substantial control is
processed as "U.S./Canada." Where foreign shareholders with a significant interest or substantial control are
from a number of countries, none of which predominates, the report is processed as "U.S./multiple." If three
or more tiers of U.S. corporations are listed with no foreign interest indicated, the report is processed as
"U.S./third tier." Noncorporate entities with U.S. interests are processed under the predominant country of
origin.

U.S. agricultural land owned by a U.S. entity deemed a foreign person under the act (the party legally
responsible for providing the information required by the act) is reported from the standpoint of the U.S. entity
rather than that of the foreign shareholder.

The AFIDA procedures provide for land to be reported by parcels. All Jand held in the same manner (type of
interest), located in one county, and acquired at the same time, is considered a parcel and is to be reported ona
single form. Land does not have to be adjacent to be considered part of one parcel. This parcel concept is
intended to ease the reporting burden.

All parcels (and acres) for each owner have been combined under each owner. Therefore, the number of
owners is less than the number of parcels. However, because owners do not always report their names in
exactly the same way on each form, it is difficult to attribute these forms with great precision to one person or
legal entity. Some foreign persons hold land in their own names and also hold interests in entities that own
other lands. These entities are treated as separate owners. .

The data in this report should be viewed in light of the foregoing caveats and those accompanying the tables.
Reporters’ errors must also be considered in reviewing this study. Resulting data deficiencies are noted where

3



Figure 3

Millonacres | >
16

15
14
13
12

Trends in Foreign Ownership of Agricultural Land by Type of Use, 1981-96

Forest

a =
oa

Nonag.
Other ag.

Pasture

Crop

on NORMAND ©

1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995

53



Land Use

Of the acres acquired in 1996, 2 percent were in pasture, 94 percent in forest, 2 percent in other agriculture, 2
percent in cropland, and 1 percent in nonagriculture (table 26). U.S./ France, U.S./Canada, and U.S./Japan
corporations acquired 48 percent of the cropland. U.S./Germany, and U.S./United Kingdom corporations
combined acquired 48 percent of pastureland. Persons from Singapore and Canada-plus U.S./Singapore
corporations together acquired 97 percent of the forest land.

Separating data on reports for only forest or forest and other nonagricultural land shows that 93 percent of the
acquisitions are in these two land-use categories. Louisiana had 61 percent of these acquisitions. Arkansas,
Maine, South Carolina, and Georgia accounted for another 38 percent (table 27).

Table 25--Foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land acquisitions,
by type of interest, method of acquisition, and owner representative,
January 1 - December 31, 1996

(Number)
Item Parcels reported Acres

Interest: “

Fee interest whole 294 1,262,840
Fee interest partial * 26 147,510
Trust beneficiary 1 132
Purchase contract 15 3,420
Other . 7 1,671

Total 343 1,415,573

Method of acquisition:

* Cash only 238 354,516 ©
Credit only 22 4,641
Trade only 14 4,815
Gift/inheritance only 1 238
Foreclosure only 3 687
Other method only 56 1,047,684
Cash & credit only 7 1,954
Noncash combinations 2 1,038

Total * 343 1,415,573

Owner representative:

Attorney 112 338,568
Manager 79 21,916
Agent . 26 10,110
Other . 64 16,879
Foreign owner 3 275
No report 59 1,027,825

Total 343 1,415,573

‘The fee interest partial is used for parcels owned only in part by the foreign investor; that Is, a percentage
interest less than 100 percent.

36



Table 11--Use of U.S. agricultural landholdings by country of foreign owner,
December 31, 1996---Continued

(Acres)
R Other . Other non-
Country Cropland Pasture Forest agriculture agriculture Total
| .

US/Iraq 800 0 le) 0 0 ‘800
US/Ireland 144 180 1,612 6 i} 1,942
US/lsrael 95 te) 187, 45 87 », 414
US/Italy 70,931 18,303 12,1384 © 5,939 1,904 109,211
US/Japan 54,748 116,625 82,639 45,409 15,039 314,460
US/Jordan . . 7 284 Oo.: 75 0 434
US/Kenya i) 0 32 (0) 0 32
US/Korea (South) 10 63 0 ) ~ 12 85
US/Kuwait 486 6,379 772 604 89 8,330
US/Lebanon 50 140 133 67 21 411
US/Liberia 1,503 18,013 3,966 1,082 80 24,644
US/Libyan Arab Republic 0 0 0 277 3 280
US/Liechtenstein 73,270 6,331 10,074 4,063 8,435 — . 102,173
US/Luxembourg 12,783 164,607 3,126 46,261 7,774 234,551
US/Malaysia 0 i) (0) 300 i) 300
US/Malta 10 ty) 30 460 (0) 500
US/Mexico 8,181 226,340 1,095 16,518 2,410 254,544
US/Netherlands 66,414 203,486 25,326 37,930 49,698 382,854
US/Netherlands Antilles 49,168 133,973 11,241 8,188 5,948 208,518
US/New Hebrides i) 883 . oO 0 0 * 883
US/New Zealand 2,605 45,537 i) 240 1,021 49,403
US/Nicaragua i) 242 40 te) ie) * 282
US/Norway 765 30 163 8,039 712 9,709
US/Pakistan | 423 o.. (1) te) te) 423
US/Panama 39,676 94,360 5,426 5,470 944 145,873
US/Paraguay 0 236 ( 0 te) 236
US/Peru 361 290 105 878 62. 1,696
US/Philippines 6,427 59 1,274 . 434 1,056 9,250
US/Portugal 1,429 151 te) 0 103 1,683
US/Qatar : 0 0 219 te) : te) 219
US/Saudi Arabia 640 6,695 2,216 113 942 10,606
US/Singapore 392 i) 91,922 80 73 92,467
US/South Africa. 1,445 300 178 666 144 2,733
US/Spain 7,940 1,023, 403 1,016 184 10,566
US/Sweden 3,230 333 . 169 i 1,120 381 5,233
US/Switzerland 123,264 47,712 122,393 28,910 11,620 333,899
US/Taiwan 27,796 6,865 3,079 5,559 2,849 46,148
US/Thailand 175 O Oo. . 77 Oo. 252
US/Trinidad & Tobago 20 0 te) : 0 0 ~ 20
US/Turkey 350 - 93 te) 1 0 oO 443
US/United Arab Emirates 1,591 2,548 - 82 303 223 4,747
US/United Kingdom 111,024 360,517 503,827 29,597 27,781 = 1,032,746
US/Uruguay lo 550 102 40 . 3 695
US/Venezuela 34,130 1,774 2,777 393 1,108 40,182
US/multiple 10,006 3,784 161,654 1,785 838 178,067
UShthird tier 92,969 853 73,953 i 4,970 1,292 174,037

Subtotal ? 1,262,343 2,290,657 4,074,329 458,226 278,731 8,364,286
Total all

landholdings 2,461,992 3,966,189 6,717,489 849,120 469,540 14,464,270

' Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with trtgn shareholders.
? Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
|
i

24



Dispositions, Land-Use Changes, and Changes in Status

Data in this section are derived from reports filed by foreign investors who disposed of 606 parcels of U.S.
agricultural land covering 2,413,614 acres between January 1 and December 31, 1996. In addition to these
dispositions, there were reports of land-use changes out of agriculture affecting 11 parcels covering 393 acres,
and reports of change in status from foreign to nonforeign affecting-70 parcels covering 88,193 acres.

For the same reasons noted at the outset of the "Acquisitions" section, the reported data for dispositions, land-tise

changes, and changes in status should be regarded as preliminary. Reports that were not timely filed ‘and/or

completed or were statutorily not required to be filed by the closing date for this report are not included.
haracteristics of ign Owners Disposing of Land

Type of Foreign Owner. The largest amount of acres disposed of was in Louisiana, Oregon; and Mississippi, ac-
counting for 68 percent of the dispositions acreage (table 33).

Transfers by foreign investors to U.S. purchasers accounted for 82 percent of the parcels and 72 percent of the
acres (table 34). Reports for 3 percent of the parcels and 0.4 percent of the acres indicated that they were
transferred to other known foreign persons. Reports for 14 percent of the parcels covering 27 percent of the
acres indicated dispositions to persons of unknown citizenship.

. Table 32--Tenure of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land acquisitions,
January 1 - December 31, 1996

Tenure Parcels reported . Acres Value
(Number) (Number) (1,000 dollars) *
Current:
Foreign owner 143 1,064,760 909,192
Manager 23 17,368 9,005,
Tenant 69 27,294 31,372
No report 108 306,151 43,057
Total 343 1,415,573 992,626
Rental:
Crop 11 4,240 3,446
Cash 59 . 22,944 26,872
No report 130 323,629 53,116
Not applicable 143 1,064,760 909,192
Total : 343 1,415,573 992,626
Intended change:
None 156 1,356,307 878,464
New 108 38,967 68,834
No report 79 20,299 45,328
Total 343 1,415,573 992,626

* Value is purchase price or nonpurchase price (estimated value).



Table 11--Use of U.S. agricultural landholdings by country of foreign owner,

December 31, 1996---Continued

(Acres)
Other Other non-
Country Cropland Pasture Forest agriculture agriculture Total,

Panama 22,761 48,060 17,969 15,475 15,849 120,114
Peru 137 13 16 87 55 308
Philippines 1,232 1,011 406 967 322 3,938
Poland 72 25 50 0 i} 147
Portugal 2,505 592 200 832 17 4,146
Russia 140 106 201 55 269 771
St Vincent 295 1,230 1,042 10 60 2,637
Saudi Arabia 9,508 7,424 2,537 9,200 3,287 31,956
Senegal 10 0 te) te) (0) 10
Singapore O 468 484,759 34 2 485,263
Somalia e) te) 11 ) le) 11
South Africa 622 1,616 50 385 O 2,673
Spain 1,103 2,614 1,159 397 320 5,593
Sweden 3,430 2,670 * 8,302 41,616 788 56,806
Switzerland 110,885 101,844 22,252 15,347 41,224 291,552
Syria 1,447 808 133 229 72 2,689
Taiwan 3,928 1,656 1,035 470 1,053 8,142
Tanzania 5,000 35 te) 170 4,938 10,143
Thailand 569 140 948 150 28 1,835
Trinidad & Tobago 24 30 35 i) 5 94
Turkey oO 38 0 ) 0 38
Turks Islands 2,390 391 267 172 72 3,292
United Arab Emirates 745 550 860 1,991 3 4,149
United Kingdom 90,718 204,602 198,002 16,300 5,655 515,277
Uruguay 1,820 7,916 490 i) 581 10,807
Venezuela 11,570 3,696 2,852 2,312 1,536 21,966
Vietnam 0 0 152 0 i) 152
Zimbabwe 134 30 67 0 2 230
Multiple 8,631 9,122 6,116 28,183 862 52,914
Third tier 3,305 7,553 1,328 1,119 193 13,498

Subtotal * 1,199,589 1,675,532 2,643,160 390,894 190,809 6,099,984
US/Andorra 200 3,541 iY) i) 0 3,741
US/Argentina 1,919 1,461 70 192 414 4,056
US/Australia 798 973 1,458 1,100 857 5,186
US/Austria 6,991 12,525 7,527 628 91 27,762
US/Bahamas 15,651 31,537 4,338 10,351 4,552 66,429
US/Barbados 41 0 ) 0 ie) 41
US/Belgium 18,093 37,775 28,896 1,792 2,356 88,912
US/Bermuda 1,481 1,299 17,410 7,453 11,370 39,013
US/Brazil 9,933 2,383 ie) 536 170 13,022
US/British Virgin

Islands 3,657 153,226 144,725 1,818 181 303,607
US/Canada 70,356 162,276 1,449,292 101,759 33,674 = 1,817,357
US/Cayman Islands 7,694 397 13,717 9,786 607 32,201
US/Chile 12 9,931 5 0 td) 9,948
US/China 316 1,908 1,068 1,198 8,350 12,840
US/Colombia 302 11,082 50 i) 1 11,435
US/Costa Rica Oo 239 168 i?) i) 407
US/Denmark 649 235 6,434 97 903 8,318
US/Dominican Republic 0 O 454 te) 135 589
US/Ecuador 69 1,549 0 0 14 1,632
US/Egypt 1,647 530 300 237 237 2,951
US/EI Salvador 52 555 i) i) 0 607
US/Finland 60 te) 2,080 i) 87 2,227
US/France 42,371 10,327 992,785 46,191 16,454 = 1,108,128
US/Germany 152,642 362,755 280,225 17,028 54,570 867,220
US/Greece 110 4,957 147 0 35 5,249
US/Guatemala 0 392 to) 20 0 412
US/Guyana ) 0 O 334 0 334
US/Honduras 37 te) ) (0) 0 37
US/Hong Kong 121,102 8,345 826 119 747 131,139
US/Indonesia 351 153 0 114 26 644
US/Iran 483 747 5 559 67 1,861

23



United|States Department of Agriculture
Economic Research Service

1800 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036-5831



Summary

Foreign persons reported that they owned 14.5 million acres, or slightly more than 1 percent of the 1.3
billion acres of privately owned U.S. agricultural land (farm and forest land) as of December 31, 1996. This
is a decrease of 833,107 acres from 1995. These and other findings are based on an analysis of reports
submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act
(AFIDA) of 1978.

Information received at the time of reporting shows that forest land accounts for 46 percent of all foreign-
owned acreage, cropland for 17 percent, pasture and other agricultural land for 34 percent, and
nonagricultural land for 3 percent.

Corporations own 76 percent of the acreage; partnerships, 12 percent; and individuals, 6 percent. The
remaining 6 percent is held by estates, trusts, institutions, associations, and others.

U.S. corporations in which foreign persons have a significant interest or substantial control reported owning
58 percent of the foreign-held acreage! The remaining 42 percent was reported as held by foreign persons
not affiliated with a U.S. corporation.

Foreign persons from Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France account for 56 percent of the
foreign-held acreage. Foreign persons|from Japan own less than 4 percent of the foreign-owned acres.

A number of parcels are owned only in part by foreign investors; that is, the foreign interest in some parcels
is less than 100 percent, with the remaining percentage being owned, for example, by a U.S. partnership.

When the 14.5 million acres are adjusted for these partial interests, the total foreign-owned acreage drops to
an equivalent of 13.0 million acres. .

The largest number of acres owned by/foreign persons in any one State was reported in Maine. Foreign
holdings in Maine account for 18 percent of Maine’s privately owned agricultural land and 22 percent of all
the reported foreign-owned agricultural land nationwide. Four companies own 92 percent of the foreign-
held acres in Maine, almost all in forest land. Two companies are Canadian, one is French; and the fourth is
aU.S. corporation that is partially Caniadian owned.

Except for Maine, foreign holdings ary concentrated in the South and West, each containing 32 and 31
percent, respectively, of all reported foreign holdings of U.S. agricultural land.

Foreign persons do not appear to be taking purchased agricultural land out of production. No change i in
intended use at the time of filing was reported for 94 percent of the acres.

No change in tenure was reported for 57 percent of the acres, while some change was reported for 28 percent
of the acres. No responses regarding tenure change were received for the remaining 15 percent of the acres.

Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land has remained relatively steady from 1981 through’ 1996, slightly
above or below 1 percent of the privately owned agricultural land in the United States.

vi



Table 8--U.S. agricultural landholdings, by country of foreign owner,
December 31, 1996---Continued
(Number)
Country Owners Parcels Acres

Philippines 31 4 3,938
Poland 1 1 147
Portugal 8 an 4,146
Russia 2 5 771
St Vincent 2 4 2,637
Saudi Arabia 44 61 31,956
Senegal 1 1 10
Singapore 4 16 485,263
Somalia 1 1 1
South Africa 7 8 2,673
Spain 22 27 5,593
Sweden 31 50 56,806
Switzerland 390 540 291,552
Syria 6 8 2,689
Taiwan 33 37 8,142
Tanzania 2 2 10,143
Thailand 8 10 1,835
Trinidad & Tobago 3 3 94
Turkey 1 1 38
Turks Islands 9 13 3,292
United Arab Emirates 13 16 4,149
United Kingdom 245 384 515,277
Uruguay 6 8 10,807
Venezuela 91 144 21,966
Vietnam 1 1 152
Zimbabwe 1 1 230
Multiple 49 68 52,914
Third tier 14 18 13,498

Subtotal ' 5,562 7,822 6,099,984
US/Andorra 1 1 3,741
US/Argentina 5 8 4,056
US/Australia 10 13 5,186
US/Austria 17 22 27,762
US/Bahamas 19 45 66,429
US/Barbados 1 1 41
US/Belgium . 29 120 88,912
US/Bermuda 16 68 39,013
US/Brazil 6 55 13,022
US/British Virgin

Islands 18 32 303,607
US/Canada 247 1,016 * 1,817,357
US/Cayman Islands 13 25 32,201
US/Chile 2 4 9,948
US/China 4 8 12,840
US/Colombia 9 13 11,435
US/Costa Rica 1 1 407
US/Denmark 9 17 8,318
US/Dominican Republic 1 1 589
US/Ecuador 3 3 1,632
US/Egypt 6 19 2,951
US/EI Salvador 4 6 607
US/Finland 3 6 2,227
US/France 115 443 1,108,128
US/Germany 240 1,021 867,220
US/Greece 3 4 5,249
US/Guatemala 2 3 412
US/Guyana 1 2 334
US/Honduras 1 1 37
US/Hong Kong 19 25 131,139
US/Indonesia 3 5 644
US/Iran 5 6 1,861
US/Iraq 1 1 800
US/lreland 2 10 1,942
US/Israel 2 3 414

14



Table 40--Acquisitions and dispositions of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land, by date,
January 1981 - December 1996---Continued
Acquisitions Dispositions
Date Parcels Acres Value Parcels Acres Value
reported reporter 1,000
(Number) | (Number) |(1,000 dollars) "] (Number) | (Number) doing)
1991
January 57 17,186 58,286 28 4,760 5,413
February 47 13,745 39,234 39 5,369 11,772
March 53 44,997 48,511 20 106,049 16,612
April 41 55,930 36,676 45 50,261 18,333
May 108 21,890 37,650 30 5,740 2,765
June 50 77,799 33,855 36 190,028 23,669
July 156 133,253 170,065 16 7,352 8,828
August 53 21,881 17,334 36 4,424 6,023
September 39 22,214 29,678 21 3,495 9,025
October 35 7,589 8,583 34 16,867 7,243
November 39 8,543 14,493 29 8,042 3,119
December 78 38,048 38,965 68 162,716 27,013
Multiple (1) to) 0 1 60 914
Total 756 463,075 533,330 403 565,163 140,729
1992
January 79 12,315 18,926 51 35,141 30,854
February 49 8,642 29,902 26 5,267 4,683
March 49 42,504 41,456 54 28,876 17,363
April 50 23,211 43,721 69 15,121 10,914
May 35 43,373 14,239 55 70,463 10,521
June 34 18,730 16,472 56 28,012 14,729
July 51 38,290 50,478 55 55,678 15,212
August 46 82,232 96,621 58 52,992 103,953
September 51 158,377 57,670 59 329,075 17,110
October 51 18,358 36,788 44 12,670 5,579
November 114 108,283 48,644 258 50,197 13,121
December 7 47,573 34,064 7 55,067 37,588
Multiple 0 0 0 1 19 291
Total 684 601,888 488,981 863 738,578 281,918
1993
January 39 10,537 21,243 56 19,983 15,057
February 39 9,789 12,986 60 14,797 19,490
March 7 75,019 53,728 74 37,011 18,733
April 61 19,223 24,768 58 29,393 21,184
May 49 89,330 40,352 51 128,442 33,984
June 53 29,020 22,253 55 33,548 15,794
July 71 163,805 23,025 60 14,113 8,064
August 32 25,683 6,440 84 17,486 8,217
September 58 32,307 42,191 57 14,012 13,713
October 35 26,336 13,494 67 208,026 44,895
November 28 8,021 6,962 49 29,746 29,183
December 56 311,078 86,104 72 39,183 32,102
Total 598 800,148 353,546 743 585,740 260,416
1994
January 35 52,917 31,859 33 91,763 18,888
February 19 8,249 5,640 24 2,021 2,010
March 37 13,514 43,433 30 30,382 12,681
April 43 6,212 12,702 38 12,470 15,614
May 32 8,107 19,940 36 6,015 7,748
51





ase Price and V: of Acquisitions. Corporations accounted for 72 percent of the purchase price and
nonpurchase price (estimated value) at time of acquisition (table 22). The average per acre purchase price and
nonpurchase price (estimated value) is lowest for “others,” $518; followed by corporations, $785; individuals,
$897; trusts, $1,668; and partnerships, $1,825.

Equity is frequently used to measure net foreign investment transfer. To approximate equity, debt was subtracted
from current value for all reports that provided information on debt and current value. The 152 reports providing
information on debt ($12,110,000) and current value ($981,911,000) resulted in an equity figure of
$969,801,000 (table 22). These figures reveal an equity figure of 99 percent in relation to current value.

Country of Origin. U.S. corporations with foreign interests acquired 42 percent of the acreage. Foreign persons
not affiliated with a U.S. corporation acquired the temaining 58 percent (table 23). Foreign persons from
Singapore acquired 1,022,677 acres, 72 percent of the total.

Seventy-seven percent of the acres acquired during 1996 were in the South, where foreign entities from
Singapore accounted for 94 percent of the acquisitions (table 24). In the Midwest, foreign entities from Germany
acquired 25 percent of the acres. In the Northeast, persons from Canada acquired 99 percent of the acres.

interest in Land

Eighty-six percent of parcels, accounting for 89 percent of the reported acres, were acquired in fee interest whole
(table 25).

(eth Acquisition

Cash represented 69 percent of all parcels purchased, covering 25 percent of the acres (table 25). In contrast, 16
percent of the parcels, covering 74 percent of the acres, were acquired by “other method only.”

Table 19--U.S. agricultural land acquisitions by type of foreign owner,
January 1 - December 31, 1996

(Number)
Parcels with
Owner Owners Parcels Acres partial Acreage
reporting reported interests equivalent *

reported '
Individual 44 58 13,820 "1 11,341
Corporation 96 236 905,614 15 763,284
Partnership 18 26 8,307 0 8,307
Estate 1 1 69 (0) 69
Trust 3 3 817 i) 817
Other 6 19 486,946 0 486,946
Total 168 343 1,415,573 26 1,270,764

' Parcels with partial interests are parcels owned only in part by the foreign investor; that is, a percentage interest
less than 100 percent.

? Acreage equivalent equals the total acreage reported multiplied by the percentage held by the foreign owner.



Table 20--Foreign owners of U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by State,
January1 - December 31, 1996

(Number)
Lia a
State Individual _* Organization
and U.S. Parcels Parcels
: Territory reported Acres reported Acres

Alabama t) 0 2 195
Alaska oO 0 1 410
Arizona 0 0 3 1,378
Arkansas te) te) 9 214,608
California 1 25 15 6,063
Colorado 1 329 5 3,588
Florida 2 202 4 5,375
Georgia 9 2,671 ani 6,863
Hawaii 0 0 1 8
Idaho 1 96 i} 0
Illinois 2 379 15 1,559
Indiana 0 0 5 1,557
Kansas 0 te) 1 200
Kentucky 1 91 9 316
Louisiana to) 0 26 812,913
Maine i) i) 27 290,467
Michigan ie) (0) 1 115
Minnesota 0 ) 7 282
Mississippi 1 67 9 1,796
Missouri 1 357 1 300
Montana 1 1,040 4 3,728
New Mexico 0 0 1 388
New York 3 204 1 2,498
North Carolina 3 628 15 3,392
Ohio 9 1,112 7 372
Oklahoma 2 605 9 6,308
Oregon t) 0 1 1,872
Pennsylvania 1 32 3 237
South Carolina 2 1,483 13 14,869
Tennessee 1 63 4 1,241
Texas 7 1,488 23 12,889
Utah 0 0 4 231
Vermont Ss ie) 0 2 29
Virginia 1 138 1 1,879
Washington 6 129 24 1,649
West Virginia O 0 4 268
Wisconsin 1 281 2° 448
Wyoming 2 2,400 5 1,762
Total 58 13,820 285 1,401,753

32



Table 39--Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land, by country of foreign owner and use,
January 1 - December 31, 1996

(Acres)
Country Cropland Pasture Forest Other Other non- Total
agriculture agriculture

Australia 15 O (0) 0 O 15
Austria 0 0 9 0 10) 9
Bahrain 309 0 0 ie) 4 313
Bermuda 26 0 21 0 4 51
Canada 315 844 23,601 168 26 24,954
Germany 9,334 674 3,226 1,438 495 15,167
Greece 380 i) oO 6 14 400
Hong Kong ) 0 0 168 0 168
Ireland 74 i) (e) 0 10 84
Japan 51 34 74 te) 37 196
Liechtenstein 1,315 te) 1) 146 te) 1,461
Netherlands 123 582 0 94 0 799
Netherlands Antilles 1,308 135 289 i) 348 2,080
Philippines 10 19 95 0 0 124
Sweden ) to) 0 0 40 40
Switzerland 1,034 47 17 48 20 1,166
United Kingdom 92 103 1,399,506 i) 2 1,399,703
Venezuela 0 0 0 209 0 209
Vietnam 33 0 4 to) 0 37

Subtotal ' 14,419 2,438 1,426,842 2,277 1,000 1,446,976
US/Belgium 0 0 6 le) 0 6
US/Bermuda 0 (0) (0) 30 i) 30
US/British Virgin

Islands i} 145 147,876 0 7 148,028
US/Canada 635 1,054 1,302 236 1 3,228
US/Cayman Islands 700 (¢) 790 (0) (0) 1,490
US/China i) 0 167 0O i) 167
US/Finland 133 i) 0 oO 59 192
US/France 3,085 7,684 1,272 191 1 12,233
US/Germany 3,398 6,602 - 4,748 109 189 15,046
US/Italy 2,200 508 0 ie) ie) 2,708
US/Japan 5,768 te) O 0 0 5,768
US/Mexico 0 0 ) 117 to) 117
US/Netherlands 1,106 1,446 209 0 0) 2,761
US/New Zealand ) 1,052 0 ) 0 1,052
US/Panama 130 0 0 30 0 160
US/Saudi Arabia 59 te) 46 le) le) 105
US/Singapore O 0 537,838 i) Oo 537,838
US/Switzerland 3,101 105 287 18 40 3,551
US/United Kingdom 1,215 14,846 1,164 450 272 17,947
US/third tier 420 500 213,291 0 0 214,211

Subtotal ? 21,950 33,942 908,996 1,181 569 966,638
Total all

land dispositions 36,369 36,380 2,335,838 3,458 1,569 2,413,614

‘Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
? Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.



Relationship of Foreign Owner to Representative

Forms were most commonly completed by attorneys, representing 32 percent of the parcels and 36 percent of the
acreage (table 10). The second largest group is the “other” category (accountants, family members, and people
associated with or employed by corporations) with filings for 24 percent of the parcels and 20 percent of the ,
acres, followed by managers, with filings for 16 percent of the parcels covering 16 percent of the acres.

and Use

Forty-six percent of the reported foreign-owned holdings of agricultural land is timber or forest land (table 11);
cropland accounts for only 17 percent. Foreign-owned cropland, pasture, and other agricultural land (which
includes, for example, orchards and vineyards) total 50 percent of all foreign-owned holdings, but only.0.6
percent of all privately held agricultural land in the United States. The other nonagriculture category accounts
for 3 percent of the reported foreign-held acres. Nonagricultural land includes acreage such as the homestead
and roads commonly reported as part of the agricultural landholding or land that is idle now but its last use
within the past 5 years was for agriculture. These land-use figures should be used with caution because they
reflect only information received at the time of filing and do not account for any changes in land use that may

have occurred subsequent to filing.
Table 10--Foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings,
by type of interest, method of acquisition, and
‘owner representative, December 31, 1996
(Number)
Item Parcels Acres
Interest:
Fee interest whole 12,062 12,044,474
Fee interest partial * 899 1,933,063
Life estate 47 ,
Trust beneficiary 159 98,800
Purchase contract 622 318,167
Other 72 60,191
Total . 13,861 14,464,270
Method of acquisition:
Cash only 7,194 4,843,654
Credit only 3,372 2,309,520
Trade only 295 304,157
Gift/inheritance only 364 226,618
Foreclosure only 66 58,951
Other method only . 1,280 . 4,223,024
Cash & credit only 1,073 1,705,460
Cash & trade only 65 510,475
Cash & any other combination 46 54,346
No report 39 12,501
Noncash combinations 67 215,564
Total 13,861 14,464,270
Owner representative:
Attorney 4,468 5,170,120
Manager 2,171 2,331,022
Agent 1,698 1,264,237
Other 3,303 3,013,648
Foreign owner 1,908 1,005,496
No report 313 1,679,747
Total 13,861 14,464,270
‘ The fee interest partial i$ used for parcels owned only in part by the foreign investor; that is,
a percentage interest less than 100 percent.



Table 40--Acquisitions and dispositions of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land, by date,
January 1981 - December 1996---Continued

Acquisitions . ___ Dispositions
Date Parcels es Value Parcels acres Value
reporte' (Number) s| | feporte (Number) (1,000
(Number) (1,000 dollars) "| (Number) dollars) *
November 50 140,936 29,998 44 15,080 16,914
December 105 99,044 67,516 160 38,837 52,607
Total 621 829,814 476,218 621 415,229 252,724
1988
January 74. 65,295 72,109 53 26,278 22,633
February 49 31,563 24,748 52 60,267 46,828
March 57 37,658 93,887 102 57,912 49,931
April 45 35,692 29,478 63 266,203 80,047
May 49 71,839 54,241 59 34,967 13,023
June 98 149,180 92,418 70 22,380 11,357
July 55 33,996 78,419 61 13,705 25,804
August 57 349,835 59,114 67 313,175 73,320
September 45 17,067 97,658 53 10,794 9,483
October 85 237,661 128,205 502 248,205 113,088
November 57 59,442 38,632 46 194,829 21,383
December 113 271,477 236,483 105 334,779. 61,483
Total 784 1,360,705 1,005,392 1,233 1,583,494 528,380
1989
January 67 50,056 81,848 47 22,172 13,651
February 42 27,050 94,557 28 6,564 | 7,300
March 76 135,615 97,213 50 31,694 22,845
April 41 28,111 40,267 34 22,389 19,275
May 63 29,832 128,076 40 6,138 25,792
June 60 67,713 56,704 46 17,031 7,178
July 45 15,124 39,985 21 12,187 11,971
August 53 95,753 68,283 60 68,992 27,309
September 91 299,729 134,418 44 5,607 11,299
October 48 42,285 57,801 26 1,903 4,587
November 85 519,446 95,669 25 5,769 7,217
December 118 425,787 229,219 47 44,162 25,337
Multiple 1 36 63 0 0 0
Total 790 736,537 1,124,103 468 244,608 183,761
1990
January 66 33,256 70,237 39 11,080 6,813
February 48 80,727 41,525 32 11,787 10,356
March 55 143,673 93,962 35 107,807 71,017
April 54 57,933 22,357 4 10,395 11,719
May 57 20,848 94,366 46 26,220 50,245
June 60 27,465 60,992 37 8,405 19,810
July 119 294,017 110,423 7 32 5,561 21,388
August 71 40,145 36,592 35 5,943 9,338
September 90 627,859 70,373 34 12,473 6,893
October 68 81,829 119,406 60 137,048 54,621
November 51 32,884 48,891 39 6,403 15,907
December 196 163,087 87,946 51 25,850 27,927
Multiple 2 454 20,728 i) 0 0
Total 937 1,604,177 877,798 481 368,972 306,034
50





"Preface

This report is made pursuant to section 5 of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978,
which, among other things, requires the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare an analysis of foreign ownership
of U.S. agricultural larid. The act reqiires an annual report to the President and the Congress on a calendar-
year basis. This report covers information received through December 31, 1996.

Contents
List of Tables...... a di
Introduction............. 1
Summary of the Act and Regulation: 1
Definitions.........cccssesescecseeeseeneenes 2

Analysis of Data Reported Under the Act.
Holdings............+.
Acquisitions......
Dispositions, Land-Use Changes, ani
Trends.........e008 |

Program Costs and Penalties.............0thssse

Appendix: Report Form FSA-153.



Table 28--U.S. forest and other nonagricultural land acquisitions, by country of foreign owner,
. January 1 - December 31, 1996

Owners Parcels
4 Acres Value
Country reporting reported 1
(Number) (Number) (Number) (1,000 dollars)
British Virgin Islands 1 6 12,929 2,021
Canada 3 23 267,869 312
Germany an 14 6,145 5,120
Japan 1 1 115 140
Netherlands Antilles 1 1 875 350
Singapore 1 13 484,759 246,342
United Kingdom 3 7 3,930 1,236
Subtotal ? 21 65 776,622 255,491
US/Australia 2 3 108 265
US/Austria 1 1 3,181 2,664
US/Bermuda 1 1 250 420
US/Canada 3 9 477 233
US/France 2 3 1,033 40,022
US/Germany 7 19 1,656 1,203
US/Panama 1 1 60 60
US/Singapore 1 16 537,838 519,998
US/United Kingdom 2 2 1,254 5,195
Subtotal * 20 55 545,857 570,060
Total 4 120 1,322,479 825,551
* Value is purchase price or nonpurchase price (estimated value).
? Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
* Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
Table 29--U.S. forest and other nonagricultural land acquisitions, by type of foreign owner,
January 1 - December 31, 1996
(Number)
: Parcels with
Owners al i Acreage
Owner reporting Parcels reported Acres pate inverests equivalent 2
Individual 7. 10 3,164 6 1,473
Corporation 24 82 829,618 14 708,703
Partnership 6 12 3,114 O 3,114
Trust 1 1 529 te) 529
Other 3 15 486,054 0 486,054
Total 4 120 1,322,479 20 1,199,873

‘ Paicels with Partial interests are parcels owned only in part by the forei
percent.

* Acreage equivalent equals the total acreage reported multiplied by the percentage held by the foreign owner.

ign investor; that is, a percentage interest less than 100



Table 26--Use of U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by country of foreign owner,
January 1 - December 31, 1996
(Acres)
ae Other -| Othernon- _
Country . Cropland Pasture Forest agriculture agriculture Total

Australia 155 0 0 0 5 160
Austria 127 16 16 oO 0 159
British Virgin Islands . 839 0 12,929 11 0 13,879
Canada . 797 202 267,908 21,631 196 290,734
Colombia 7 145 10 ~ 10 7. 25 197
Denmark . ~ 20 297 15 te) 1 313
Egypt 77 0 0- 14 0 91
Germany 3,916 342 7,557 32 45 11,892
Gibraltar 7 0 to) ) 0 7
Hong Kong 0 0 ) 21 4 25
Italy 310 1,188 123 te) 0 1,621
Japan 145 48 . 85 0 62 340
Liechtenstein i) 1,541 to) 0 le) 1,541
Mexico . . 240 705 QO 0 Oo 945
Nepal i 60 8 te) 0 68
Netherlands 493 582 383 175 30 1,663
Netherlands Antilles . 0 10) 875 to) 130 1,005
Singapore i) i) 484,759 te) 0 484,759
Switzerland 304 Oo i) 1,040 ie) 1,344
Taiwan 0 ) 0) 8 0 8
United Kingdom i) 2,400 3,868 1) 62 6,330
Venezuela : 531 0 0 0. 162 693

Subtotal * 8,086 7,391 778,536 23,039 722 817,774
US/Australia 0 te) 108 48 0 156
US/Austria te) O 3,181 O te) 3,181
US/Bahamas 29 500 oO 0 4,400 4,929
US/Belgium 99 te) 135 134 + 0 368
US/Bermuda . 252 256 977 oO 218 1,703
US/British Virgin

Islands 654 142 354 ) 6 1,156
US/Canada 3,352 32 477 27 20 3,908
US/Cayman Islands 127 0 te) 9 0 136
US/France 4,225 320 1,508 388 . 391 6,832
US/Germany 2,197 6,649 3,146 44 27 12,063
US/Japan 7,534 682 30 953 1,463 10,662
US/Liberia 506 0 0 0 74 580
US/Liechtenstein 735 0 236 te) 0 971
US/Netherlands 39 . () i) 392 le) 431
US/Panama 0 20 60 oO O 80
US/Philippines i) te) 0 274 0 274
US/Singapore 0 i) 537,838 80 te) 537,918
US/Spain 2,091 65 tt) 459 105 2,720
US/Switzerland + 233 592 492 172 o- 1,489
US/Taiwan . O 1,117 oO 0 2 1,119
US/United Arab Emirates 148 41 12 2 1 204
US/United Kingdom 1,401 3,795 700 120 881 6,897
US/multiple i) 22 1) 1°) 0 22

Subtotal ? 23,622 | 14,233 549,254 3,102 7,588 , 597,799
Total all 4 :

land acquisition 31,708 21,624 1,327,790 26,141 8,310 1,415,573

* Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
? Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.



Characteristics of Foreign Owners

Type of Foreign Owner. Corporations are the most common type of owner. They account for 42 percent of
the owners, followed by individuals, 39 percent, and partnerships, 15 percent (table 2). The remaining 4
percent of the owners are estates, trusts, institutions, associations, and others such as real estate investment
trusts, church groups, and foreign organizations not identifiable with the above categories.

Corporations own 56 percent of the parcels and 76 percent of the acreage; individuals, 28 percent of the
parcels and 6 percent of the acreage; partnerships, 13 percent of the parcels and 12 percent of the acreage; and
all others, 3 percent of the parcels and 6 percent of the acreage. When partial interests are taken into account,
foreign-owned acreage drops from 14.5 million acres to 13.0 million, but distribution among the types of
owners remains relatively the same.

Corporate-held parcels average 1,421 acres, or 3,412 acres per holder, while individual-held parcels average
237 acres, or 302 acres per holder. Partnership holdings average 948 acres per parcel, or 1,472 acres per
holder, and all other holdings average 1,733 acres per parcel, or 3,000 acres per holder.

Size of Holding. Individuals tend to own smaller acreages than corporations (tables 2 and 3). Owners of
parcels of less than 300 acres (62 percent of all of the foreign owners) hold only 3 percent of the land and
owners of parcels with 300 acres or more (the remaining 38 percent) hold 97 percent of the land (table 4).
Part of this concentration may be explained by the definition of agricultural land, which includes extensive
uses of land such as ranching and forestry and intensive uses of land such as orchards and vegetable farms.
The different unit sizes due to differences in use may also explain part of the acreage differences in foreign-
held land among the States.

Table 2--U.S. agricultural landholdings, by type of foreign owner,
December 31, 1996

(Number)
Parcels with Acreage
-Owner Owners Parcels Acres partial . , equivalent?
interest '
Individual 3,008 3,833 908,650 286 817,448
Corporation 3,238 7,777 11,048,090 396 9,816,233
Partnership 1,143, 1,775 1,682,501 204 1,575,797
Estate 9 12 1,050 1 1,036
Trust 222 380 231,197 7 230,025
Institution 3 3 1,075 1 1,015
Association 3 4 9,561 2 7,769
Other 38 77 582,146 2 582,087
Total 7,664 13,861 14,464,270 899 13,031,410

* Parcels with partial interests are parcels owned only in part by the foreign investor; that is, a percentage interest less than 100
percent.

? Acreage equivalent equals the total acreage reported multiplied by the percentage held by the foreign owner.



Table 40--Acquisitions and dispositions of foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land, by date,
January 1981 - December 1996---Continued
Acquisitions Dispositions
Date Parcels ‘Actes Value Parcels Acres Value
reported (Number) 1] Teported (Number) (1,000
(Number) (1,000 dollars) "| (Number) dollars) *
July 54 14,098 156,227 47 14,162 24,759
August 68 35,707 90,410 49 14,020 31,104
September 56 26,637 41,415 53 6,278 9,699
October 47 19,633 36,530 35 21,380 28,153
November 47 43,840 41,830 61 14,085 16,550
December 88 964,261 278,404 71 836,284 101,679
Multiple 1 170 575 0 te) 0
Total 815 1,659,662 1,111,427 656 1,074,821 406,748
1985
January 55 115,007 73,409 27 7,395 9,947
February 29 8,852 24,450 19 12,167 10,931
March 45 13,452 89,034 29 5,798 16,496
April 46 17,054 20,673 47 9,285 13,290
May 41 60,793 23,631 34 2,844 6,900
June 41 21,651 26,261 26 26,265 11,171
July 50 68,527 51,170 27. 2,062 3,414
August 36 8,747. 15,716 31 7,431 4,109
September 116 1,755,035 40,243 28 193,417 11,736
October 61 17,263 85,535 36 16,452, 8,699
November 28 8,878 . 26,616 18 6,974 7,340
December 139 83,297 71,154 144 37,826 50,159
Multiple 1 439 293 te) Y) 0
Total 688 2,178,995 548,185 466 327,916 154,192
1986
January 47 13,960 63,237 29 5,101 10,111
February 27 9,901 7,095 21 2,661 3,419
March 44 36,251 51,541 18 13,070 10,530
April 57 25,778 135,753 23 5,538 6,195
May 99 1,605,263 131,784 90 1,641,979 22,458:
June 61 97,164 48,537 37 17,975 4,198
July 37 26,962 33,239 22 20,734 27,192
August 33 16,351 22,053 34 8,395 15,539
September 34 36,048 58,043 26 3,757 10,088
October 138 240,661 62,891 37 19,201 8,887
November 48 15,744 18,399 34 11,615 - 6,831
December 131 53,609 105,859 77 58,781 50,233
Total 756 2,177,692 738,431 448 1,808,807 175,681
1987
January 26 9,508 20,307 25 6,006 8,290
February 32 14,316 39,974 29 6,393 6,821
March 58 139,557 52,919 43 33,646 18,865
April 64 68,547 30,108 72 27,647 30,026
May 40 44,665 30,545 33 10,634 20,567
June 47 203,785 49,532 61 227,011 25,552
duly 44 29,408 36,453 35 30,206 14,904
August 47 37,944 28,895 36 7,826 36,191
September 39 17,546 31,656 44 6,594 13,257
October 69 24,558 58,315 39 5,349 8,730
49



‘Act of 1974 (S USC $52a) and the Paperwork Reduction Ac of 1996, as amended The authorty for requesting the folowing

mine the effects of foreign persons acauring, ranstemng and holding agncutural land, and tne effect of aucrracinty on
latory. Fatlure to comply or falafication of reporting i subject to evil penalty, not to exceed 26 percent ot

of auch penaty.

Federal Agencies may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond

‘burden for this callection of information is estimated to average 30 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing ial ching existing dala sources, gather

‘aintaining the date needed, and completing and reviewing the collection cf information, Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any olher eepect of va eoflecion ey erormation, *

Bette sungetons fcr reducing uvs burden to Deparment of Agrcuture, Clesrance Officer, OIRM (OMB No. 7), AG Box 7630, Washington, 0.C. 20250. RETURN THIS

COMP! FORM TO YOUR COUNTY FSA OFFICE.

DETERMINATION OF "FOREIGN PERSON” STATUS

DEFINITION: ‘Berson’ means any individual, corporation, company, association, firm, partnership, society, joint stock company, trust, estate, or any other
legal entity.

You are a “foreign person" under the provisions of P.L. 95-460 and must complete the front side of this form (FSA-153) if your answer is "NO" to all
the statements numbered 1, 2, and 3 below. TNO”

YES [NO
1. 1AM a citizen of the United States.
2. | AM a citizen of the Northem Mariana Islands or the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands,

3. | AM lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence, or paroled into the United States, under the Immigration and
lationality Act.

{n accordance with tne Priv
formation will be used t

The fatowing statement 1s ma
information is PL. 95-460. The

fa colection of nermatin ureasi disleys a cuerty vad OMB con number. Pubic repetng
rons,

You are a “foreign person" under the provisions of P.L. 95-460 and must complete the front side of this form (FSA-163) If your answer Is "YES" fo any of the
statements humbered 4a, 4b, and 5 below. YES Tho

4. 1AM a "person" other than an individual or government, which is created or organized under the laws of:
a. A foreign government of which has its principal place of business located outside the United States.

b. Any State of the United States, and in which significant interest or substantial control 171s held directly or indirectly by any
foreign individual, government, or person,

5. 1AM a foreign government.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

Complete this form in an original and three copies for each tract of land. Insertion of carbons is necessary. Report as a tract all acreages under the same ownership in each

County or parish acquired or transferred on the same date. Land in different counties or parishes and land acquired or transferred on different dates must be reported as
Separate tracts.

Return the original and two copies to the County Faim Service Agency (FSA) Office where the tract of land is located. Retain the last copy (Foreign Person Copy) for
your records. DO NOT SEND THIS FORM DIRECTLY TO WASHINGTON, D.C. UNLESS GRANTED PERMISSION BY THE FSA IN WASHINGTON D.C.

After the original disclosure on FSA~153 on the tract(s) of land owned by the same person within a county or parish, each subsequent change of
ownership or use must be reported by filing another FSA-153.

ITEM INSTRUCTIONS AND REPORTING DATES

ITeM4, ONLY ONE BOX MAY BE CHECKED

If the tract of land to be listed under item 2 on the front

of this document was:

~Owned on Febriary 1, 1979, check {Ct “x] JJ Reporting Date: This document is required to be

completed and retumed by August 1, 1979,

If the tract of land to be listed under item 2 on the front side of this document was, on or after February 2, 1979:
~Acquited, check ® Yt, [e]

“Disposed of, check. tus  g Reporting Date:
pet 0 je

~Changed fom non-agricultural toaprcaltal use, check HYtganan"TM[K]_ ) eyetthesecvte we

“Changed from agricultural to non-agricultural, use check -& Lang Ute Charge To wy ESA1S9 prin ninety (90) days

ITEM 8. ‘The date entered would be as follows forthe activity checked in
tem 1:

Box A or B « Date acquired
BoxC — -Dite disposed.
Box D or E- Date land use changed

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (Use additional sheets i mare space is needed)

‘USignificant interest or substantial control as defined in 7 OFR 781.2 (W). “U.S. Government Printing Office: 1996 - 757-520
This program or activity will be conducted on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, or disabilly,

55



In States where foreign persons own few parcels, the possibility of one or two unusual situations prevents any
generalization about concentration. For example, one large timber holding by a foreign person in a State with
a large number of field-crop farms could easily be misinterpreted to suggest that a single foreign person-was
taking over the farming of the State.

Purchase Price and Value of Holdings. As noted earlier under “Type of Foreign Owner,” corporations own 76
percent of the acreage. Corporate purchase price and nonpurchase price (estimated value) at time of

acquisition account for 68 percent of the total price (table 5). The average per acre purchase price and
nonpurchase price (estimated value) at time of acquisition was the lowest for corporations at $683; followed
by “all others,” $715; individuals, $935; and partnerships, $1,208.

Table 4--Foreign-owned U.S. agricultural landholdings,
by size of holding, December 31, 1996

Size Owners Parcels Acres
(Acres) (Number) (Number) (Number)
Less than 20 896 945 9,275
20-59 1,376 1,575 47,325
60-99 731 867 56,669
100-299 1,753 2,249 ‘309,309
300-999 1,635 2,557 899,949
1,000 or more 1,273 5,668 13,141,743
Total 7,664 13,861 14,464,270

Table 5--Value of U.S. agricultural landholdings,
by type of foreign owner, December 31, 1996

Acres Acres
with with non- Nonpurchase
. Owners purchase Purchase purchase price '
Owner (Number) price ¢ 000 price (1,000
reported doll: lars) reported dollars)
(Number) (Number)
Individual 3,008 769,131 800,209 139,519 49,499
Corporation 3,238 8,348,593 6,411,626 2,699,497 1,131,081
Partnership 1,143 1,441,882 1,828,447 240,619 204,352
Estate 9 350 1,255 700 59
Trust 222 213,178 250,430 18,019 10,989
Institution ‘ 3 1,075 1,367 ) 0)
Association 3 9,402 12,789 159 465
Other . 38 531,959 295,484 50,187 16,985
Total 7 7,664 11,315,570 9,601,607 3,148,700 1,413,430

* Purchase price and nonpurchase price (estimated value) at time of acquisition.



Foreign Ownership of U.S. Agricultural Land Through December 31, 1996, by Charles.H. Barnard and
Jacqueline Stokes. Resource Economics Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Statistical Bulletin No. 941.

Abstract

Foreign persons owned 14.5 million acres of U.S. agricultural land as of December 31, 1996. This is slightly
more than 1 percent of all privately held agricultural land and 0.64 percent of all land in the United States.
These and other findings are based on an analysis of reports submitted in compliance with the Agricultural
Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978.

Keywords: Agricultural land, foreign landownership, landholdings, land acquisitions, land dispositions.

Washington, DC 20036-5831 July 1998



Concentration of Foreign Acquisitions of U.S. Agricultural Land

Ninety-five percent of the acres acquired during 1996 were in Louisiana, Maine, Arkansas, South Carolina, and
Texas (table 18). Seventy-seven percent of the acquired acreage was in the South (table 24). Foreign persons
from Singapore accounted for 94 percent of the acres acquired in the South.

haracteristics of Forei wners

Type of Foreign Owner. Corporations reported acquiring 69 percent of the parcels and 64 percent of acres (table
19). Individuals account for 1 percent of the acres; partnerships, 1 percent; and trusts and others, 34 percent.
When partial interests of foreign investors are taken into account, the 1,415,573 acres drop to an acreage
equivalent of 1,270,764 acres.

Corporations acquired an average of 3,837, acres per parcel, or 9,433 acres per owner, compared with individuals
who acquired an average 238 acres per parcel, or 314 acres per holder. Partnerships reported acquisitions
averaging 320 acres per parcel, or 461 acres per owner; and trusts, estates, and others reported 21,210 acres per
parcel and 48,783 acres per owner.

The largest acreage acquired by individuals during the period was reported for Georgia (table 20). Organizations
reported acquiring the largest acreage in Louisiana and Maine.

Size of Acquisition. Owners of parcels with 300 or more acres (45 percent of the owners) acquired
approximately 99 percent of the acres, and owners of parcels with less than 300 acres (55 percent of the owners)
acquired the remaining 1 percent of the acres (table 21). All parcels of 300 or more acres accounted for 96
percent of the total value. The value per acre, however, is concentrated in the reports of holders of less than 300
acres--$4,148 per acre, compared with $679 per acre for holdings of 300 or more acres.

Table 18--U.S. agricultural land acquisitions of foreign owners, by State,
| January 1- December 31, 1996

anus Acres Value anus Acres Value
Tertitory (Number) (1,000 dollars) Territory (Number) (1,000 dollars) *

Alabama 195 1721||| Missouri 657 450
Alaska 110 29]|}| Montana 4,768 538
Arizona 1,378 3,247]| || New Mexico 388 188
Arkansas 214,608 115,585]} || New York 2,702 995
California 6,088 19,167}}]] North Carolina 4,020 8,495
Colorado 3,917 780}} | Ohio 1,484 3,425
Florida 5,577 32,583] || Oklahoma 6,913 3,312
Georgia 9,534 7,835}} || Oregon 1,872 6,239
Hawaii 8 1,011]||] Pennsylvania 269 277
Idaho 96 275}||| South Carolina 16,352 6,422
Mlinois 1,938 7,458}!|| Tennessee 1,304 1,649
Indiana 1,557 19,332} Texas 14,377 16,678
Kansas 200 120}}}] Utah 231 2,256
Kentucky 407 2,099] | Vermont 29 23
Louisiana 812,913 657,081 ]]|| Virginia 2,017 21,496
Maine 290,467 40,581 ||] Washington 1,778 5,852
Michigan 115 110]] | West Virginia 268 763
Minnesota 282 61]}|Wisconsin 729 792
Mississippi 1,863 4,155]}||Wyoming 4,162 1,095.

Total 1,415,573 992,626

* Value is purchase price or nonpurchase price estimated value).

30



Table 9--Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural landholdings, by U.S. region,
December 31, 1996---Continued
(Number)
Country South West Northeast Midwest
Parcels, Acres Parcels Acres Parcels Acres Parcels Acres
|

Panama 116 81,000 24 29,402 6 2,622 8 7,090
Peru 17 182 1 81 1 15 1 30
Philippines 14 1,358 24 2,424 0 0 3 156
Poland o oO oO o 1 147 o oO
Portugal 2 510 8 3,251 1 385 O 0
Russia 1 10 oO o 4 761 O 0
‘St Vincent 3 1,318 0 ) 1 1,319 0 0
‘Saudi Arabia 43 16,470 12 11,197 1 3,628 5 661
Senegal 1 10 0 () 0 0 0 0
Singapore 13 484,759 3 504 0 te) 0 o
Somalia 0 o oO 0 1 Ww 0 0
South Africa 3 2,012 O i) 3 461 2 200
Spain 14 3,114 8 1,482 0 oO 5 997
Sweden 15 3,679 22 50,728 3 313 10 2,086
Switzerland 339 135,335 90 112,277 44 16,228 67 27,712
Syria 5 2,161 1 194 2 334 0 t)
Taiwan 12 4,596 19 2,481 0 0 6 1,065
Tanzania 2 10,143 0 0 0 0 0 0
Thailand 3 580 3 978 1 164 3 113
Trinidad & Tobago 2 36 i) 0 0 - 0 1 58
Turkey oO o 1 38 0 0 0 0
Turks Islands 1 100 6 798 1 160 5 2,234
United Arab Emirates 9 3,411 5 519 0 0 2 219
United Kingdom 159 152,602 80 181,983 56 ‘84,823 89 95,869
Uruguay 2 1,570 2 320 t) oO 4 8,917
Venezuela 103 9,869 1. 537 16 2,758 24 8,802
Vietnam 1 152 t) 0 0 O 0 i)
Zimbabwe 1 230 0 0 O 0 oO 0
Multiple 37 9,197 19 39,513 6 2,647 6 1,557
Third tier 1 10,564 4 1,994 0 0 3 940

Subtotal * 3,583 2,305,703 1,741 1,667,577 1,284 1,645,212 1,214 481,492
US/Andorra 0 0 1 3,741 0O i) O 0
US/Argentina 4 1,757 1 1,092 i) i) 3 1,207
US/Australia 7 1,905 2 85 0 0 4 3,196
US/Austria 16 11,679 6 16,083 0 0 0 Oo
US/Bahamas 23 30,558 13 27,527 4 4,137 5 4,207
US/Barbados O 0 1 4 o 0 0 0
US/Belgium 63 31,126 8 35,484 9 12,553 40 9,749
US/Bermuda 53 29,376 5 7,553 7 1,654 3 430
US/Brazil 7 3,533 0 i) 0 O 48 9,489
US/British Virgin

Islands 20 8,646 10 152,917 1 137 1 141,907
US/Canada 497 374,666 269 238,232 107 961,825 143 242,634
US/Cayman Islands 16 28,967 7 2,914 1 250 1 70
US/Chile 1 19 3 9,929 0 0 0 oO
us/China 7 12,518 1 322 0 o 0 O
US/Colombia 12 11,275 oO 0 1 160 0 0
US/Costa Rica 1 407 0 0 ) 0 O i)
US/Denmark 6 1,335 5 5,636 i) 0 6 1,347
US/Dominican Republic 1 589 0 0 0 0 0 0
US/Ecuador 3 1,632 0 0 0 0 0 0
US/Egypt 3 710 16 2,241 0 0 0 0
US/El Salvador 6 607 O 0 0 0 0 o
US/Finland 4 2,152 i) 0 0O oO 2 75
US/France 304 132,791 57 14,278 39 © 934,520 43 26,539
US/Germany 617 314,678 88 330,374 145 45,637 171 176,531
US/Greece 1 147 2 4,957 1 145 0 O
US/Guatemala 3 412 0 O O 0O O 0
US/Guyana 2 334 0 i) te) 0 O 0
US/Honduras 1 37 oO 0 0 0 oO 0
US/Hong Kong 5 8,055 20 123,084 0 0 oO 0
US/Indonesia 5 644 0 0 o 0 0 0

18



It's Easy To Order ‘Another Copy!

Just dial 1-800-999-6779. Toll free in the United States and Canada.

Ask for Foreign Ownership of U.S. Agricultural Land Through December 31, 1996
(SB-941).

For additional information about ERS publications, databases, and other products,
both paper.and electronic, visit the ERS Home Page on the Internet at
http:/Avww.econ.ag.gov

National Agricultural Library Cataloging | ecord:

Barnard, Charles.
Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural jand through December 31, 1996.
(Statistical bulletin (United States. Dept. Of Agriculture) ; no. 941)

1. Farms—-United States—Foreign ownership--Statistics.

2. Real property—United States--Foreign ownership--Statistics.

3. Investments, Foreign--United States--Statistics, |. Stokes, Jacqueline.

Il. United States. Dept. of Agriculture. Economic Research Service. Ill. Title.

The U.S, Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race,
color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all
prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require altemative means for communication of pro-
gram information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and
TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write|USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and
Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, |DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice or TDD). USDA is an equal oppor-
tunity provider and employer.



Table 33--Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land, by type of foreign owners,
by State, January 1 - December 31, 1996

(Number)
ivi
State Individual Organization Total
and U.S. Parcels Parcels Parcels
Territory reported Acres reported Acres reported Acres

Alabama i) 0 58 53,953 58 53,953
Arizona 0 Y 1 30 1 30
Arkansas 8 5,567 8 105,984 16 111,551
California 1 294 7 4,699 8 4,993
Colorado 6 2,373 12 1,403 18 3,776
Florida 1 5 9 2,535 10 2,540
Georgia 9 1,261 56 71,654 65 72,915
Mlinois 0 0 23 1,719 23 1,719
lowa 1 84 to) 1 84
Kansas 0 0 2 3,788 2 3,788
Kentucky 0 0 8 1,159 8 1,159
Louisiana 0 0 60 881,999 60 881,999
Maine to) 0 10 24,756 10 24,756
Maryland 2 326 (0) 2 326
Michigan 4 163 9 96,756 13 96,919
Minnesota 0 0 2 129 2 129
Mississippi 2 374 83 251,396 85 251,770
Missouri 1 163 4 505 5 668
Montana i) to) 3 9,874 3 9,874
New Hampshire 1°) i) 1 606 1 606
New Mexico 0 0 1 1,438 1 1,438
New York 3 212 4 101 7 313
North Carolina 1 120 8 11,751 9 11,871
North Dakota 2 240 0 0 2 240
Ohio 1 489 20 2,139 21 2,628
Oklahoma le) 10) 3 3,052 3 3,052
Oregon 0 O 34 502,480 34 502,480
Pennsylvania o te) 6 226 6 226
South Carolina 4 654 27 84,992 31 85,646
South Dakota 6 320 4 5,643 10 5,963
Tennessee te) 0 2 514 2 514
Texas 1 20 12 7,732 13 7,752
Utah to) 0 3 4,551 3 4,551
Vermont 2 1,037 3 122 5 1,159
Virginia te) ) 8 194 8 194
Washington 3 163 25 200,445 28 200,608
West Virginia i) t) 13 2,572 13 572
Wisconsin 4 481 3 51,312 7 51,793
Wyoming 0 0 12 7,059 12 7,059

Total 62 14,346 544 2,399,268 606 2,413,614

42



Table 13--U.S. forest and other nonagricultural landholdings,
by countty of foreign owner, December.31, 1996
(Number)
Country Owners Parcels * Acres

‘Argentina 2 2 240
Australia 5 7 946
Austria 9 24 17,267
Bahamas 2 2 7,399
Belgium 2 2 161
Belize 1 2 102
Bermuda 8 14 41,617
Brazil 1 2 22
British Virgin Islands 2 62 57,011
Canada 299 436 1,380,201
Cayman Islands 4 7 2,384
Costa Rica 1 1- 20
Denmark 4 5 6,027
Egypt 3 4 140
El Salvador 1 1 50
France W 14 7,620
Germany 140 305 164,226
Greece 3 3 118
Guatemala 1 1 188
Hong Kong 2 5 4,069
India 1 1 831
Iran 3 3 243
Israel 1 1 76
Japan 7 7 571
Jordan 3 4 204
Korea (South) 1 1 353
Kuwait 1 1 198
Lebanon 2 3 85
Liberia 2 2 4,290
Liechtenstein 9 13 14,191
Luxembourg 2 3 279
Mexico 2 3 208
Netherlands 7 11 4,575
Netherlands Antilles 21 31 15,090
Norway 1 1 74
Pakistan 1 1 14
Panama 5 8 15,736
Philippines 3 4 184
St Vincent 1 1 20
Saudi Arabia 3 3 665
Singapore 1 13 484,759
Somalia 1 1 ab
Spain 3 3 542
Sweden 2 2 105
Switzerland 17 23 9,032
Syria 2 2 147
Taiwan 1 1 96
Turks Islands 2 2 105
United Arab Emirates 1 2 705
United Kingdom 44 79 174,386
Venezuela 7 8 ,
Vietnam 1 1 152
Multiple 6 7 5,520
Third tier 2 2 1,187

Subtotal ' 667 1,147 2,445,677
US/Australia 3 4 423
US/Austria 5 7 6,746
US/Bahamas 2 3 3,431
US/Belgium 7 40 21,553
US/Bermuda 4 24 11,412
US/British Virgin

Islands 3 6 143,740
US/Canada 43 499 1,374,661
US/Cayman Islands 1 1 . 640

26



Table 24--Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land acquisitions, by U.S. region,
January 1 - December 31, 1996
(Number)
South West Northeast Midwest.
Country Parcels Acres Parcels Acres Parcels Acres Parcels Acres
reported reported reported | reported
Australia ) i) i) 0 i) ) 1 160
Austria 0 iY) oO 0 1 32 1 127
British Virgin Islands 8 13,879 le) 0 0) (0) 0 i)
Canada 1 23 9 648 27 ~=289,706 1 357
Colombia 1 197 0 0 i) te) oO O
Denmark 2 313 0 0 to) 10) 1) 0
Egypt 1 91 i) 0 0 0 0 te)
Germany 20 7,959 2 2,149 1 126 14 1,658
Gibraltar 1 7 0 i!) Oo tt) 0 0
Hong Kong (0) () 1 25 i) oO te) ie)
Italy 2 1,271 (0) 0 i) 0 1 350
Japan 0 O 2 193 0 Oo 4 147
Liechtenstein (0) ) 1 1,541 0 (0) le) 0
Mexico 3 557 1 388 0 te) oO i)
Nepal 1 68 0 i) iY) oO i) )
Netherlands 3 1,042 i) 0 to) 0 3 621
Netherlands Antilles 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 = 1,005
Singapore 13 484,759 0 0 0 0 0 0
Switzerland 1 5 1 1,040 0 te) 1 299
Taiwan 0 0 1 8 0 te) (0) 0)
United Kingdom 5 1,322 3 2,510 1 2,498 i} 0
Venezuela 0 (0) 1 537 te) te) 1 156

Subtotal * 62 511,493 22 9,039 30 292,362 29° 4,880
US/Australia 3 108 1 48 0 i) i) Oo
US/Austria 1 3,181 0 i) 0 O Oo 0
US/Bahamas 2 4,929 _ 0 O O 0 te) te)
US/Belgium 6 368 (0) ¢) 0 0 (0) i)
US/Bermuda 4 1,703 0 0 0 0 0 0
US/British Virgin .

Islands 2 1,156 0 0 i?) te) O 0
US/Canada 3 203 30 3,006 2 52 9 647
US/Cayman Islands 0 0 1 136 0 0 (e) 0
US/France 6 5,944 (0) 0 2 888 0 0
US/Germany 35 10,781 2 802 2 111 6 369
US/Japan 9 2,227 8 7,113 i} te) 4 1,322
US/Liberia 0 i!) 1 580 oO it) i) i)
US/Liechtenstein 1 971 le) ) to) (0) 0 te)
US/Netherlands to) 0 1 85 0 0 5 346
US/Panama 1 60 1 20 (0) (0) 0) 0
US/Philippines 1 274 i) 0 0 (0) te) le)
US/Singapore 17 537,918 O i} 0 i) ie) 0
US/Spain 6 2,720 0 iY) oO 0 0 )
US/Switzerland 2 410 1 879 i) QO 1 200
US/Taiwan 1 1,119 0 0 0 0 oO 0
US/United Arab Emirates 3 204 to) 0 (0) 0 t) )
US/United Kingdom 7 3,253 8 3,088 1 54 3 502
US/multiple 1 22 0 i) 0 Oo (0) 0

Subtotal ? 111 577,551 54 15,757 7 1,105 28 3,386
Total all

land acquisitions 173 1,089,044 76 24,796 (37 293,467 57 8,266

‘ Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
* Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.



Foreign persons from Canada own 2,854,103 acres, or 42 percent, of the reported forest landholdings.
Unidentifiable third-tier foreign persons own 1 percent of the forest land. Several companies with large holdings
account for much of this acreage: two Canadian companies with 1,308,789 acres, four U.S:/Canada corporations
with 1,228,833 acres, a U.S./France corporation with 914,579 acres, two U.K. companies and one U.K.
partnership with 433,361 acres, a U.S./Singapore corporation with 91,922 acres and a Singapore company with
484,759 acres. :

Foreign persons from Germany own the most cropland, 467,346 acres, or 19 percent, followed by Canada,
Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands Antilles, with an additional 35 percent of the acreage.
Unidentifiable third-tier parties own 4 percent of the cropland.

Foreign persons from Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Canada own 1,787,679 acres, or 45 percent,
of pasture land. Foreign persons from Japan, the British Virgin Islands, the Netherlands, the Netherlands
Antilles, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Panama own an additional 36 percent, or 1,444,585 acres.

The largest group of owners of other agricultural land are foreign persons from Canada, Germany, and the
Netherlands Antilles, with 35 percent of the acres. They are followed by foreign persons from Japan, France, the
Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Sweden who own 348,278 acres, or 41
percent.

Foreign owners of only forest or forest and other nonagricultural land account for 42 percent of all the foreign-
owned U.S. agricultural land (tables 1 and 12). The remaining 58 percent is primarily farmland, although it
includes some forest and/or other nonagricultural land commonly reported as part of the farmland holding (table
11).

The average parcel size for tracts with forest or forest and other nonagricultural land is 2,245 acres (table 12).
Except for Maine (with 52 percent of the acreage, the uniqueness of which has been noted previously), the forest
or forest and other nonagriculture acres are concentrated in the South. Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas,
South Carolina, and Florida account for 22 percent. California, Oregon, and Washington account for another 6
percent of the acres reported. Holdings in Michigan, Minnesota, and New York accounted for another 12 percent
of the acres. Foreign persons from Canada own 45 percent of the foreign-owned U.S. forest or forest and other
nonagricultural lands (table 13). Foreign persons from France and the United Kingdom own an additional 26
percent.

Individuals own 18 percent of the parcels but less than 2 percent of the acres (table 14). Corporations reported
holding 69 percent of the parcels, representing 85 percent of the acreage. The remaining 13 percent of the
parcels and 13 percent of the acres are held by partnerships, estates, trusts, and others. When partial interests are
taken into account, the acreage equivalent is 1,124,628 acres less than the acres for which reports were filed.

Owners of parcels with less than 1,000 acres, 80 percent of all the owners, own 35 percent of the parcels
covering only 2 percent of the forest or forest and other nonagricultural land (table 15). The remaining 20
percent of the owners, who purchased parcels with 1,000 acres or more, own 65 percent of the parcels covering
98 percent of these lands.

Intended Use

Concern has been expressed about farmland purchased and converted to uses other than agricultural production.
Foreign persons do not appear to be proceeding in this direction to any substantial degree. However, the
following data on intended use and tenure, like much of the use and value data, are based an information at the
time of filing; they do not reflect subsequent changes.



Table 1--U.S. agricultural landholdings of foreign owners, by State, December 31, 1996

Total land Privately owned Foreign-owned Proportion of

area agricultural agricultural foreign-owned to

State of State’ land? land privately owned

(1,000 acres) (1,000 acres) (Acres) agricultural. land

. (Percent)

Alabama 32,491 28,620 249,500 0.9
Alaska 365,333 500 195 NEG.
Arizona 72,645 10,502 351,944 3.4
Arkansas 33,330 * 27,981 260,471 0.9
California 100,031 44,042 947,778 2.2
Colorado 66,301 36,618 705,819 1.9
Connecticut 3,118 1,884 882 NEG.
Delaware 1,237 972 5,878 0.6
Florida 34,658 23,975 653,100 2.7
Georgia 37,156 32,338 490,503 1.5
Hawaii 4,112 1,998 180,075 9.1
Idaho 52,744 . 15,256 22,920 0.2
Illinois 35,613 31,633 208,708 0.7
Indiana 22,996 20,493 97,600 0.5
lowa 35,818 83,582 33,191 0.1
Kansas _> $2,338 49,780 65,022. 0.1
Kentucky 25,388 22,578 117,859 0.5,
Louisiana 28,494 24,523 727,391 3.1
Maine 19,837 18,065 3,234,890 |” 17.9
Maryland 6,296 4,510 51,902 1.2
Massachusetts 5,008 2,664 2,029 0.1
Michigan 36,451 25,742 347,490 1.3
Minnesota . 50,911 36,343 222,322 0.6
Mississippi 30,229 26,713 193,657 0.7
Missouri 44,125 39,289 71,970 0.2
Montana 93,048 53,052 462,879 09
Nebraska 49,052 45,444 74,441 0.2
Nevada 70,332 : 8,248 388,393 47
New Hampshire 5,756 4,251 15,871 0.4
New Jersey 4,779 2,438 18,369 0.8
New Mexico. 77,654 35,705 786,456 22
New York » 30,321 21,893 283,483 1.3
North Carolina 31,260 26,392 194,038 0.7
North Dakota . 44,352 39,211 26,375 01
Ohio 26,243 22,519 184,544 0.8,
Oklahoma 43,939 38,500 59,765 0.2
Oregon 61,558 28,022 232,861 08
Pennsylvania ~ 28,728 21,518 104,207 0.5
Puerto Rico NA NA 839 NEG.
Rhode Island 675 357 17 NEG.
South Carolina 19,330 15,851 172,598 11
South Dakota 48,609 39,556 41,441 0.1
Tennessee 26,339 21,873 86,680 0.4
Texas 167,691 154,417 1,184,309 0.8
Utah 52,527 11,892 57,623 0.5
Vermont 5,935 5,153 86,934 1.7
Virginia 25,410 20,963 146,286 0.7
Washington 42,567 22,530 190,793 0.8
West Virginia 15,436 13,531 175,661 1.3
Wisconsin 34,833 26,729 28,083 0.1
Wyoming 62,073 24,459 218,228 0.9
Total 2,265,107 1,265,105 14,464,270 14

+ 4980 land area from Geography Division, Census Bureau.
? Privately held land based on A. Daugherty, unpublished data, U.S. Dept. Agr., Econ. Res. Serv., 1987. Estimate of total land less
public, Indian, transportation, and urban lands. Includes forest land, pastureland, cropland, range, and miscellaneous.

NEG. = Negligible NA = Notavallable





Corporations were the most active type of foreign owner disposing of land, accounting for 57.percent of the
owners, 54 percent of the parcels, and 41 percent of the acres (table 35). In comparison, individuals and
partnerships accounted for 35 percent of the owners, 43 percent of the parcels, and 59 percent of the acres.

Size of Disposition. The most acreage disposed of. was for parcels with 1,000 or more acres, accounting for 99
percent of the acres (table 36). As should be expected, sales prices per acre were higher for smaller parcels.
Average selling price for parcels of less than 20 acres was $11,134 per acre, compared with $429 per acre for
parcels of 1,000 or more acres. Average selling price of all reported dispositions was $446 per acre.

Table 34--Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land
by foreign owners, by citizenship of purchasers,
January 1 - December 31, 1996

(Number)
Purchaser Parcels Acres
. reported
USA 494 1,737,247
Foreign 20 10,210
Unknown 83 662,531
No report 9 3,626
Total 606 2,413,614

Table 35--Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land, by type of foreign owner,
. January 1 - December 31, 1996

(Number)
Parcels with
Owners Parcels fei Acreage
Owner 4 Acres Partial interest 2

reporting reported reported * equivalent
Individual 39 62 14,346 4 14,267
Corporation 89 330 993,197 5 969,571
Partnership 16 201 1,403,263 2 1,403,225
Trust 10 1 2,690 (0) 2,690
Other . 2 2 . 118 1 67
Total 156 606 2,413,614 12 2,389,820

* Parcels with partial interests are parcels owned only is part by the foreign investor; that Is, a percentage interest less than
100 percent.

? Acreage equivalent equals the total acreage reported multiplied by the percentage held by the foreign owner.

43



Table 37--Dispositions of U.S. agricultural land, by country of foreign owner,
: January 1 - December 31, 1996
Owners Parcels i .
. Selling price
reporting reported Acres 1
Country (Number) (Number) (Number) (1,000 dollars)
Australia 1 1 15 30
Austria 1 1 9 138
Bahrain 2 2 313 384
Bermuda 2 3 51 1,942
Canada 12 13 24,954 7,961
Germany 33 50 15,167 13,797
Greece 3 7 400 613
Hong Kong 1 1 168 1,200
Ireland 1 1 84 193
Japan 2 9 196 5,119
Liechtenstein 1 1 1,461 886
' Netherlands 3 5 799 2,624
. Netherlands Antilles 3 3 2,080 1,364
Philippines 3 4 124 310
Sweden 1 1 40 110
Switzerland 7 8 1,166 3,643
United Kingdom 5 181 1,399,703 165,613
Venezuela 1 2 209 1,176
Vietnam ' 1 1 37 50
Subtotal ? 83 294 1,446,976 207,153
US/Belgium 1 1 6 17
US/Bermuda 1 1 30 1
US/British Virgin
Islands 3 12 148,028 118,000
US/Canada : 9 14 3,228 2,656
US/Cayman Islands 1 1 1,490 1,450
US/China 1 1 167 67
US/Finland 1 2 192 371
US/France 5 17 12,233 3,273
US/Germany 13 59 15,046 7,321
US/Italy 1 1 2,708 1,730
US/Japan 3 3 5,768 15,158
US/Mexico 1 1 117 17
US/Netherlands 2 4 2,761 1,692
US/New Zealand 1 1 1,052 789
US/Panama 1 1 160 120
US/Saudi Arabia 1 1 105 270
US/Singapore 1 16 537,838 519,998
US/Switzerland 7 8 3,551 3,390
US/United Kingdom 18 46 17,947 10,930
US/third tier 2 122 214,211. 181,221
Subtotal ® 73 312 966,638 868,481
Total all
land dispositions 156 606 2,413,614 1,075,634
* Selling price is value at time of disposition.
* Total interests excluding U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.
° Total interests of U.S. corporations with foreign shareholders.



Table 3--Foreign owners of U.S. agricultural landholdings, ©
by State, December 31, 1996
(Number)
State Individual Organization
aren) Parcels : : ‘Acres Parcels Acres:

Alabama . 24 481 | 366. 249,019
Alaska 1 75 2 120
Arizona 27 11,785 184 340,159
Arkansas 63 30,031 141 230,440
California 208 64,856 993 882,922
Colorado 137 106,272 269 599,547
Connecticut . 4 109 13 773
Delaware : 4 926 9 4,952
Florida 423 29,791 879 623,309
Georgia 164 56,395 802 434,108
Hawaii 22 2,055 79 178,020
Idaho 12 6,707 - 39 16,213
Illinois : . 50 10,342 500 198,366
Indiana 43 5,949 160 91,651
lowa : 67 15,530 76 17,661
Kansas 40 10,282 92 54,740
Kentucky 48 7,751 259 110,108
Louisiana 17- 8,658 121 718,733
Maine 29 17,486 182 3,217,404
Maryland . 50 9,402 135 42,500
Massachusetts 2 252 8 1,777
Michigan . 55 7,957 76 339,533
Minnesota . 20 6,723 145 215,599
Mississippi 7 1,437 216 192,220
Missouri 46 17,219 101 54,751
Montana 65 45,026 110 417,853
Nebraska 9 2,800 33 71,641
Nevada 2 693 .. 26 387,700
New Hampshire 10 1,549 .. 22 14,322
New Jersey 9 1,206 46 17,163
New Mexico. 53 “41,413 95 ~ 775,043
New York * - 262 51,039 167 232,444
North Carolina 44 7,641 178 186,397
North Dakota 39 11,578 21 14,797
Ohio 78 14,703 225 169,841
Oklahoma 13 7,885 79 51,880
Oregon - 50 11,430 87 221,431
Pennsylvania. 29 2,773 285 101,434
. Puerto Rico . 4 . 579 6 . 260
Rhode Island iY 0 1 17
South Carolina 60 13,987 231 158,611
South Dakota 41 10,971 26 30,470
Tennessee 78 17,663 96 69,017,
Texas 697 161,653 1,153 - 1,022,656
Utah : 5 1,151 38 56,472
Vermont 343 26,420 191 60,514
Virginia ' 118 18,693 410 127,593
‘Washington 165 16,718 358 174,075
West Virginia 14 2,077 183 173,584
Wisconsin | - : 67 11,007 _ 56 17,076
Wyoming 15 29,524 58 _ 188,704
Total 3,833 - 908,650 10,028 13,555,620.