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Foreign Ownership of US Ag Land: County-Level Data : documentation

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Foreign Ownership of US Ag Land Thru 12/31/97:County-Level Data  Stock# 98005
Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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(New 8/98)

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For questions, comments or further information about these data, contact:
                 Jackie Stokes, email:jross@econ.ag.gov
                 Charles Barnard, email:cbarnard@econ.ag.gov
          
Or contact the ERS Information Center at:    Phone: 202-694-5050
                                             e-mail: service@econ.ag.gov

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture monitors foreign investment in U.S.
agricultural land under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of
1978 (AFIDA) and associated regulations. All foreign persons holding
agricultural land as of February l, 1979, were required to file a report of
such holdings with the Secretary of Agriculture by August 1,1979. All foreign
persons who acquire or dispose of agricultural land on or after February 2,
1979, are required to report such transactions within 90 days of the transfer.
In addition, any foreign person who holds land which subsequently becomes or
ceases to be agricultural land or any person who holds agricultural land who
subsequently becomes or ceases to be a foreign person must also file a report
within 90 days of such change.  

The information is reported on form FSA-153, and the form is filed with the
office of the Farm Service Agency (FSA) serving the county in which the real
estate is located.  Copies of the forms, in addition to being retained in the
local FSA office, are forwarded to FSA in Washington, D.C., where they are
available for public inspection. Copies are also sent to ERS which annually
prepares the data analysis at the end of each calendar year. Questions about
reporting requirements and enforcement should be directed to William A. Brown,
EOLPD, FSA, Room 2739, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250,
202/720-6833. 

The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA) requires
foreign owners of U.S. agricultural land to report information about such
ownership to the Secretary of Agriculture.  The act also requires that the
Secretary transmit an annual report on foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural
land, including an analysis of the information reported by foreign owners, to
the President and the Congress.  The county-level data presented in this report
supplement the information contained in the annual report "Foreign Ownership of
U.S. Agricultural Land Through December 31, 1997,"  Foreign investment in U.S.
agricultural land has been reported for 14.3 million acres in 1,938 of the
3,041 counties in the United States.  Data are presented for each county to
show the number of acres and parcels, value, country of origin, and use of
foreign-owned agricultural land.  

"Agricultural land" is defined in the act as all land used for agricultural,
forestry, or timber production purposes.  The regulations further refine this
definition by including idle land if its last use, within the past 5 years, was
for agricultural, forestry, or timber production purposes.  The regulations
exempt all agricultural land held in parcels of not more than 10 acres (in the
aggregate) from which agricultural, forestry, or timber products do not exceed
$1,000 in gross annual sales.

AFIDA requires reporting any interest in the land other than a security
interest (a mortgage or other debt-securing instrument).  The regulations
exempt leaseholds of less than 10 years, contingent future interests, and those
noncontingent future interests that do not become possessory upon termination
of the present estate.  In addition, nonagricultural easements, rights-of-way,
and interests solely in mineral rights are exempt.

A "foreign person," as defined in the act, includes any individual who: (1) is
not a U.S. citizen or national, (2) is not a citizen of the Northern Mariana
Islands or the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, or (3) is not lawfully
admitted into the United States for permanent residence.  Any person who holds
an Immigration and Naturalization Service Form I-151 or I-551 (green card) is
considered lawfully admitted for permanent residence and is exempt from the
requirements of the act.  Foreign governments, entities which are created under
the laws of or have their principal place of business in a foreign country, and
U.S. entities in which there is a significant foreign interest or substantial
control are also defined as foreign persons.  The regulations define
"significant interest or substantial control" to mean a 10-percent or more
interest in the entity if held by a single foreign person or a group of foreign
persons acting in concert, or a 50-percent or more interest if held by a group
of foreign persons not acting in concert, none of whom individually holds a 
10-percent or greater interest in that entity.

A "parcel" is all land held by one owner in the same manner (type of interest),
located in one county, and acquired at the same time.  Lands do not have to be
adjacent to be considered part of one parcel.

The data in the following tables are presented by State and county.  Only those
States and counties in which there is foreign investment in agricultural land
are listed.  Table 1 displays the number of parcels and acres and the value of
the foreign-held land at the time of acquisition.  Table 2 presents acreage
data for the five foreign countries of origin that account for the most
foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land nationally and a sixth category for all
other countries.  The foreign-country data are totaled under each country name
for all types of foreign investors from that country.  Table 3 furnishes
acreage data by use categories.


Contents
                                                                    Page

Alabama. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Alaska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Arizona. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Arkansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
California . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11
Colorado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Connecticut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Delaware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Florida. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Georgia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Hawaii . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Idaho. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Illinois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Indiana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
Iowa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Kansas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
Kentucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Louisiana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Maine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Maryland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
Massachusetts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
Michigan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Minnesota. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Mississippi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Missouri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Montana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Nebraska . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Nevada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
New Hampshire. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
New Jersey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
New Mexico . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
North Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
North Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
Oklahoma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Oregon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
Rhode Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
South Carolina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
South Dakota . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Tennessee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Texas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Vermont. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Virginia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Washington . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
West Virginia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Wisconsin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Wyoming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129


                              END-OF-FILE