from the President's Corner

Joe Sansoni

Ihope everyone has been successful in playing catch-up with their field work! The winter rains and floods put us so far behind it has been a challenge for almost every farmer with every type of crop to get caught up. Anticipated snow melt swelling our rivers and flood control waterways is going to perpetuate these issues in some areas all summer long, I’m afraid. This has been a very interesting and challenging year. It appears we will be pressed for time and will continue to be challenged all the way through the harvest seasons. I wish everyone success and prosperity in the wake of a difficult winter and spring.

Over the past couple years, I have read multiple articles regarding the changing demographics of who owns and operates agricultural land in the US. The vast majority of US ag land is still owned by US citizens and companies however the dynamics of ag land ownership have been changing slowly over the past few decades, and not in the best of ways. Currently there is approximately 893 million acres of farmland in the US. This includes the timber industry. This is down about 50 million acres just in the last 12-13 years. Only a very small percentage of that 50 million is due to development or city annexations. The bulk of it is land that has been purchased by various wealthy elitists groups or individuals (such as Bill Gates or the American Prairie Foundation) and other investment groups, and intentionally taken out of ag production and “returned to its natural state” or repurposed for habitat or other “environmentally motivated” uses.

Of the ag land still in production, about 5 percent is owned by foreign entities or governments, with foreign companies holding the lion’s share. Here’s where it gets interesting. That 5 percent represents known foreign interests. Russia, China, and Iran are governments who are on that list by the way. Not to a hugely significant degree outright, but on the list nonetheless. I point that out about the known interests because those governments also contribute significant amounts of investment capital that fund American-run investment groups. There are many other governments and foreign owned companies on the list of ag land investors who are considered US allies, but it is alarming to think that some of the very governments with regimes who routinely threaten and bully the US both outwardly and economically are heavily invested in American agriculture and ag land. The reason why is easy to figure: They are keenly aware that the US has not only the most ag land in the world but also – and perhaps more importantly - the most productive.

The US Federal Government currently has no laws prohibiting foreign ownership of ag land. Additionally, only four states do…Arizona, Idaho, Hawaii, and Oregon. However, these foreign entities have easily gotten around laws in those states by simply moving money through other investment entities, funds and banks (both foreign and domestic), ultimately funding American-owned and managed investment and land holding groups. So, that makes it all technically legal of course. An interesting dichotomy that comes out of all this is the fact that the foreign interests invest in American farmland and agriculture because whether they are friendly to us or not, they value it! Many of the American elitist investors and groups invest in it because they don’t value its use for agriculture and instead work to take it out of production.

In previous articles I have written about my concerns regarding the fact that many American family farmers are falling by the wayside and becoming victims of economic unsustainability. Statistically, it is known that 68 percent of small American familyowned farms have no successor to take over. 68%! Additionally, many more struggle to make ends meet and remain economically viable. So, when those operations come to the end of their line, they will likely be sold to the highest bidder which these days typically is an investment entity of one type or another with the backing of very deep pockets. Selling out to farmer neighbors is becoming rarer because they can’t compete with investment groups. Land ownership in the US is experiencing a massive transition, and a very dangerous one. Small farmers are selling out to these entities because they are no longer economically sustainable, ironically often because of fact that the very investment entities they sell to are much less concerned about their ag operations and ventures being profitable as they are about simply holding land for the long term or in perpetuity. In fact, losses on the farming side often create welcome write-offs for their profitable ventures in other industries. My concerns about this paradigm are that it is slowly diminishing the need for agricultural production to be consistently profitable, and over time it puts more and more of our food supply in the hands of those who wouldn’t hesitate for a second to use it as a means of manipulating people and the markets. It’s a cycle that appears to have no truly positive potential outcome.

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