State Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Roxborough Park, introduced House Bill 23-1152 more than a year ago, aiming to ban foreign ownership of agricultural land in Colorado. Although the bill did not make it out of committee, discussions during Wednesday’s Water Resources and Agricultural Review Committee meeting indicate renewed interest in the topic, and a new bill is expected to be introduced.

Some 2.5 million acres of Colorado farmland are owned by foreign entities, according to a 2022 U.S. Department of Agriculture report. This makes Colorado home to the third most foreign-held agricultural land in the nation, followed only by Texas (5,435,906 acres) and Maine (3,489,957 acres).

Ashley House, Colorado Farm Bureau vice president of strategy and advocacy, confirmed that Sen. Byron Pelton, R-Sterling, has requested a bill title.

Although Bradley’s unsuccessful legislation sought to prohibit foreign ownership, House suggested that current discussions are not expected to be as restrictive, and CFB would ask for a more focused consideration of reporting requirements for investments from “foreign principals” in China, Iran, North Korea, and those on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.  

“Further definitions of foreign principals could include a country or government on the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list or any person receiving grants, funding, or subsidies from a country on the OFAC sanctions list,” she added.

House explained that several federal reviews and safeguards for foreign ownership of agricultural land are already in place nationwide, and “only about 3%—representing 40 million—acres of all privately held agricultural land is foreign-owned, both nationally and in Colorado. Canada owns the largest percentage piece of agricultural land, followed by Sweden, the UK, Germany, and Belgium.” 

Nonetheless, she said, foreign ownership and investment in U.S. agricultural land is a “hot topic,” and has recently been fueled by media reports of adversarial nations seeking to acquire land for nefarious purposes.

“I think in Colorado the request for this legislation is driven in part by what’s happened in other states around military bases and installations,” House said.  “There have been recent examples in North Dakota, where in 2023, the Chinese food producer group, Fufeng bought land near an Air Force Base. I think there’s the desire to avoid the same situations in Colorado, more so than it being driven by water and natural resource concerns. There’s no real evidence of either happening in Colorado, but I think the fear is elevated.”

Colorado Livestock Association Chief Executive Zach Rile who represents roughly 350 livestock grower families, farms and ranches cautioned the committee to not overlook the significant impact foreign investment in Colorado agriculture has on the health of local economies, particularly those on the eastern plains of the state. 

Riley pointed to high-paying, highly-skilled and important jobs with millions of dollars in payroll that keep median incomes high and property values stabilized.

“So it’s the comparison of what the good that a company that is operating above board and has checked all the boxes provided by CFIUS (Committee on Foreign Investment in the US), and something that our industries, combined and collectively, have worked on over the last five years, was getting that USDA appointment to CFIUS,” Riley told the committee. “We saw the problem. We’ve heard the complaints and the stories of what has happened on the alfalfa farms in Arizona, and we understand that there has been a problem.” 

Sen. Pelton applauded the work of foreign-owned companies in his district, particularly Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods, calling them “good stewards of the community.”

“There’s already the reporting requirement to the Secretary of State here in Colorado, so we have that in place at present,” House said. “But what we would recommend from the Colorado Farm Bureau side, if there is to be some potential legislation is that the bill is almost exclusively reporting in nature.”

House recommended current legislation by Arkansas and Alabama as examples.

“The review of the Arkansas legislation was probably the closest to something we could accept because it also contained privacy restrictions,” Riley said. “This is not a publicly reported item that puts at risk or endangers these operations for public attack and special interest. So that’s something we would add (to Colorado legislation) as a potential sideboard.

CLA’s published foreign trade policy urges U.S. officials to diligently work toward the normalization of the trading relationship between all foreign trading partners regarding the trade of meat and dairy products.

There are no states that absolutely prohibit foreign ownership; however, the National Ag Law Center states approximately twenty-four states specifically forbid or limit nonresident aliens, foreign business entities, or foreign governments from acquiring or owning an interest in private agricultural land within their state’s boundaries.