Mississippi Ag chief, lawmakers targeting foreign farm ownership

Mississippi officials are calling attention to the growing amount of foreign-owned farmland in the state, although it makes up less than three percent of the state’s agriculture and forest land.

The amount of Mississippi farmland owned by foreign, nonresidents grew by over 100,000 acres from 2011 to 2021, according to a November report, totaling over 700,000 acres now. The report was written by a recently formed committee of Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson; Attorney General Lynn Fitch; Rep. Angela Cockerham, I-Magnolia; Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula; Rep. Bill Pigott, R-Tylertown; Sen. Chuck Younger, R-Columbus; and three private sector appointees.

The report calls for the Legislature to create an enforcement mechanism for already-existing rules on land ownership.

Walter West, Jr., harvests cotton at his farm in rural Hazelhurst, Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. Ordinarily, West’s cotton crops would look like a sea of white, but this season’s crops have been severely impacted by drought conditions.

According to state law, foreign, nonresident land ownership is prohibited except for: taking a lien on a property to secure a debt; inheriting property, if the new owner is from Lebanon or Syria (communities from those countries settled in Mississippi in the late 1800s, around when the state’s current constitution was written); having no more than 320 acres for industrial development; or having no more than five acres for a residence.

Foreign-owned farmland makes up 2.6% of the state’s total, slightly less than the national rate of 3.1%. The Netherlands is by far the top among the abroad landowners in Mississippi, with about 350,000 acres, according to the report. German and British owners each account for another 60,000 acres, roughly.

Gipson told Mississippi Today that those countries are likely responding to European regulations around fertilizer and dairy cows, leading them to buy forest land in places like Mississippi.

“I think that a lot of this activity, that has increased in the last 10 years, is happening because people around the world understand that the greatest physical asset in the state of Mississippi is our farmland,” said Gipson.

The November report also specifically targets land owned by federally defined adversaries, something other states have also addressed recently.

“Continued unrestricted foreign ownership of Mississippi’s agricultural land and water
rights especially by foreign adversaries … presents a serious concern to Mississippi and to national security, including food security,” the report says.

Only one of those adversaries, China — which owns 88 acres in the state — is listed in the report.

In October, Arkansas became the first state to order that a Chinese-owned company, Syngenta, divest itself of 160 acres of farmland in the state, the Associated Press reported. In just the last year, 10 states have added laws restricting or banning foreign ownership of farmland, the article says. In response, Syngenta told the AP: “Our people in Arkansas are Americans led by Americans who care deeply about serving Arkansas farmers. This action hurts Arkansas farmers more than anyone else.”

While Mississippi already has such laws, officials are looking for guidance on how to enforce them. In May, after Gipson asked Fitch if land purchases violating state law were “null and void,” the AG responded that the state law only says that such land is supposed to revert ownership to the state. Gipson said in the report that he plans to follow up with Fitch about how the state can apply such a process, known as “escheatment.”

During a public comment period, nearly all of the dozens of Mississippians who wrote in to the committee expressed concern over other countries owning farmland in the state.

The committee also heard in-person testimony from several groups. One of which, the think-tank America First Policy Institute, specifically warned about the potential influence of China’s Communist Party through its citizens buying farmland in Mississippi. The nonprofit was founded in 2021 to promote former President Donald Trump‘s public policy agenda.

“We must fortify our supply chains and ensure national self-reliance to marginalize the CCP and its strategies to subvert us,” the group’s Chair Steve Yates and Director Adam Savit said in a statement.

Another testimony, from the Mississippi Forestry Association, sided against more regulations, arguing that doing so could hurt the state’s forestry industry.

“Foreign owners of forests in Mississippi share Mississippi values,” Executive Director Casey Anderson said in a statement. “They understand the important economic value of their forests to Mississippi.”

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