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The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, passed in 1978, provides for the tracking and monitoring of investments in U.S. agriculture. But Danny Munch, an economist with the U.S. Farm Bureau, said the process is ripe for an upgrade.
“Right now, that process hasn’t been updated in over 40 years. So the Department of Agriculture is looking at how we can improve the form to answer the question, can we add other questions to make the survey better?” , we have initiated public comment to provide any other general advice the public is seeking on how to better inform this topic.”
Munk says the current process is full of inefficiencies and insufficient information.
“Currently, when you fill out a data form, only major investors are listed, and only their countries are listed. This means there are a small number of stakeholders who are not listed and are essentially shielded from public data There are a lot of them. Currently, the USDA is legally limited to only increasing ownership to the third tier level. So let’s say you have multiple entities with each other, or you have a shell company. It is very difficult to get through the third tier of ownership, so it is not always possible to reach the last ownership country, which may be the most useful to know about.”
Munk said that in addition to modernization, AFBF is also seeking stronger enforcement.
“This form is self-reporting and penalties are only in place for late reporting, not failure to report. Therefore, it is our priority to improve the general enforcement of the law and the filling out of the form. is a top priority. Second, the overall modernization of the program using online systems, as well as adding and expanding what questions foreign investors can ask to find out what they are doing with the land. We commented and provided a lot of information about what could be done.”
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