Legislature must stop foreign land ownership
By Andy Gipson
Commissioner of Ag and Commerce
Last week I attended the Republican National Committee with our Mississippi delegation. On
Wednesday night, President Donald J. Trump’s former press secretary and current Arkansas
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders spoke to the energetic crowd.
The floor was electrified by her powerful speech supporting the America First agenda. To
roaring applause, Governor Sanders reminded Americans that Arkansas was the first and only
state to kick China off Arkansas farmland and out of the State. She is right, but with legislative
support Mississippi could be next.
During the 2024 Legislative Session, our Mississippi Legislature missed a great opportunity to
follow Arkansas’ lead. Rather than banning foreign countries including our enemies from buying
up Mississippi farms, the Legislature opened the door even wider to foreign control by passing
the “Mississippi Foreign Land Ownership Act.”
Prior to the passage of the 2024 Act, Mississippi law generally prohibited the ownership of
Mississippi land by any “nonresident alien,” a phrase that had never been precisely defined by
the Legislature in law.
The old law, coupled with the lack of a clear enforcement mechanism left a gaping loophole for
decades, allowing numerous foreign countries such as the Netherlands, Canada, and many
other foreign interests to purchase vast tracts of Mississippi farmland.
Even our enemy China was able to grab a small chunk of Mississippi. In fact, according to the
most recent USDA report issued last December, foreign countries and/or foreign-controlled
entities currently control nearly 1 million acres of Mississippi agricultural and forest lands.
In 2023, the Mississippi Foreign Purchase of Farmland Study Committee called on the
Legislature to create a clear enforcement mechanism within the law to stop foreign interests
including our adversaries from continuing to buy up Mississippi’s most valuable asset, our
farmland.
Unfortunately, effective July 1, 2024, the new law passed by the Mississippi Legislature will
open the door even wider for foreign interests including our enemies to acquire interests in
Mississippi farmland. Perhaps unintentionally, Senate Bill 2519 actually eliminated the broad
prohibition of nonresident ownership.
The new law’s limitations only apply to foreign adversaries such as China and Russia, and it
even allows these enemies to hold up to 50 percent ownership in Mississippi farmland. The new
law also allows any country including our enemies to lease up to 500 acres for “research” or
“experimental” purposes.
Conservative Mississippians understand this issue: China, Russia, and our foreign enemies
should not be allowed to hold even a 10 percent interest in our farmland; they should have
ZERO percent.

Yet rather than banning foreign ownership of our land, the new Mississippi law makes it easier
for foreign interests such as foreign-controlled investment companies to buy up Mississippi.
Even Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, or others can get in on the action in partnership
with other foreigners which is exactly how they get around trade restrictions and sanctions
internationally.
The Revolutionary War by which our Founders gained independence was fought and won on
the issue of who would have the right to control the soil of these United States. The fact that any
foreign country will be now able to do by monetary transaction what would normally be done by
military conquest should give every citizen in Mississippi a wake-up call.
Food security is national security, and our land is Mississippi’s most valuable asset. As
Governor Sanders said, Arkansas was the first state to kick China out. Mississippi should be
next. While I am disappointed this year the Mississippi Legislature did not put a full ban on
foreign enemies’ ownership in Mississippi farmland, I strongly encourage the Legislature to fix
this law and slam the door shut on China in 2025. Let us put the America First agenda in action.
Let’s put Mississippi First.