S. 1969 — AFIDA Improvements Act of 2025

This section amends the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA), which requires foreign persons to report acquisitions or transfers of U.S. agricultural land to the Secretary of Agriculture, by (1) adding a minimum 1% ownership threshold—either directly through the first tier or in the aggregate through other entities—for such reporting when more than one foreign person acquires or transfers an interest in the same land; and (2) requiring the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center (FPAC-BC) to validate data collected under AFIDA, ensure compliance with the new threshold, and identify potential civil penalty violators in coordination with the Farm Service Agency.

This section directs the Secretary of Agriculture to (1) enter into one or more memoranda of understanding with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), not later than one year after enactment, to share all relevant information from reports on foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land submitted under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA); (2) update the Farm Service Agency's "Foreign Investment Disclosure" handbook not later than one year after enactment—incorporating recommendations from the Government Accountability Office's January 18, 2024, report on foreign investments in U.S. agricultural land—and every 10 years thereafter; and (3) if not established by one year after enactment, require the Farm Production and Conservation Business Center (FPAC-BC), in coordination with the Farm Service Agency, to analyze steps and develop an implementation timeline for the electronic submission and retention process for AFIDA disclosures required by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, and report such analysis to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the House Committee on Agriculture.