Legislation to ban foreign adversaries from owning or buying agricultural lands in Louisiana is heading to Gov. John Bel Edwards after the House gave final approval on Thursday.
House members voted 89-0 to concur with changes in the Senate to House Bill 125, sponsored by Rep. Michael Echols, R-Monroe, to prohibit foreign adversaries from directly or indirectly owning, acquiring, leasing, or otherwise obtaining any interest in Louisiana agricultural lands.
The legislation ties the definition of foreign adversaries to individuals or governments listed in federal regulations that currently include China, Cuba, Iran, Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
"This bill is really centered around foreign adversaries who are coming to Louisiana, acquiring agricultural lands, acquiring lands near our military bases, and this is imposing more of a national security threat than we have seen in many decades," Echols told a House committee earlier this session.
Analysis of U.S. Department of Agriculture data by the Louisiana State University AgCenter last year showed 1.4 million acres, or about 18% of the state’s total farmland was under foreign ownership in 2019, the last year of available data.
The total represented an increase of 277,706 acres since 2015, with the majority of holdings in Vernon, LaSalle and Beauregard parishes. Over 88% of all foreign-owned land in Louisiana is in forestry production, and about 8% in crop production, with entities with the largest holdings from Canada, the Netherlands, and the Cayman Islands, according to the analysis.
