H.R. 1438 — Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act of 2025

This section establishes the short title of the Act as the “Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act of 2025.”

This section defines “agricultural land” for purposes of the Act by incorporating the definition in 7 U.S.C. § 3508 and expressly including land used for ranching purposes, which expands the covered land category to encompass ranching operations in addition to agricultural, forestry, and timber production uses. It also defines “covered person” by cross-referencing the Department of Commerce’s foreign-adversary ownership/control definition in 15 C.F.R. § 7.2, but substitutes Iran, North Korea, the People’s Republic of China, and the Russian Federation for “foreign adversary” and excludes U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. The section further defines “Secretary” as the Secretary of Agriculture and defines “United States” to include any State, territory, or possession of the United States.

This section directs the President to prohibit covered persons from purchasing or leasing (1) public agricultural land owned by the United States and administered by a Federal department or agency, including the Department of Agriculture, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Defense, and (2) private agricultural land located in the United States. As background, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) authorizes the President to regulate certain foreign transactions and property interests during a declared national emergency. The section authorizes the President to use the authorities in sections 203 and 205 of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. §§ 1702 and 1704) to implement the prohibition and applies the civil and criminal penalties in section 206 of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. § 1705) to knowing violations, attempts, conspiracies, and causes of violations. It also clarifies that the section does not affect land purchases or leases by persons other than covered persons, does not restrict the use of land transferred to a non-covered person, and does not require a covered person that already owns or leases the covered land on the date of enactment to sell it.

This section directs the President to prohibit covered persons associated with certain foreign governments from participating in Department of Agriculture programs if they own, in full or in part, or lease agricultural land in the United States. It excludes from that prohibition programs relating to food inspection or other food safety regulatory requirements, programs relating to the health and labor safety of individuals, and programs administered by the Farm Service Agency with respect to this Act or the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). It also requires a person described in section 2(2)(A) who is also described in section 2(2)(B) to provide the Secretary proof of that status before participating in a covered Department of Agriculture program, except for programs under this Act or the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978.

This section revises the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 to require reporting of security interests and leases in agricultural land, regardless of lease duration, by striking the existing exclusion for security interests in 7 U.S.C. § 3501 and conforming related definitions in 7 U.S.C. § 3508. It also expands the civil penalty for violations from a penalty that could not exceed 25 percent to one that must be at least 15 percent and may not exceed 30 percent, and requires the Secretary of Agriculture to place a lien on the agricultural land involved in the violation, which may be released only after the penalty is paid. In addition, this section directs the Secretary to publish human-readable and machine-readable public data sets containing all reported information in the internet database established under section 742 of division B of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024, and to update those data sets within 30 days of receiving a report. As background, the Act requires foreign persons to report acquisitions, transfers, and holdings of interests in U.S. agricultural land. Finally, this section expands the definition of “foreign person” to include certain entities, other than individuals or governments, that issue equity securities primarily traded on foreign securities exchanges in Iran, North Korea, the People’s Republic of China, or the Russian Federation.

This section directs the Secretary of Agriculture to submit to Congress, not later than 1 year after enactment and every 2 years thereafter, a report on foreign ownership or lease of agricultural land in rural areas under section 520 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490), including the risks and benefits of such ownership, misreporting in annual foreign landholding reports, enforcement of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), and the role of State and local authorities. It also requires the Secretary to establish a plan to protect personally identifiable information. This section directs the Director of National Intelligence to submit to specified congressional committees and leaders, not later than 1 year after enactment and every 2 years thereafter, an unclassified report, with a classified annex permitted, analyzing foreign malign influence by covered persons with foreign ownership in the U.S. agriculture industry and the primary motives of foreign investors to acquire agricultural land. This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to Congress, not later than 1 year after enactment, a report reviewing resources, staffing, expertise, and enforcement issues affecting implementation of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) and recommending any necessary changes to that Act.