New Laws Threaten To Limit Foreign Ownership Of Land Across The Nation

The United States has long seen itself as an open-for-investment free-market bastion. But concerns about national security–and some political grandstanding– could close the doors to foreign buyers, particularly when it comes to farmland.

_{By Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes Staff}

The action last week by Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin affected a mere 160 acres of agricultural land in a state with 14 million acres devoted to farms. But it was an opening shot in a battle that states across the U.S. have been suiting up for recently.

Griffin ordered Northrup King Seed Co. to sell those acres in Craighead County within two years while slapping it with a $280,000 penalty for failing to timely disclose its foreign ownership. Northrup, he noted, is a subsidiary of Syngenta Seeds, LLC, which is ultimately owned by China National Chemical Co., a state-owned enterprise.