Items Tagged with 'AFIDA'

The House advanced legislation Wednesday that would increase oversight of farmland purchases by investors from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. 

There’s a big week in Washington ahead of the July 4 recess, including appropriations action on the Hill and potentially, a Supreme Court opinion limiting agencies' discretion to interpret laws.

Leaders of the House and Senate Ag committees announced dueling plans for a new farm bill as the partisan impasse appeared to deepen ahead of the House panel’s planned votes on May 23. House Ag Chairman Glenn Thompson released a broad summary of his planned legislation, and his Senate counterpart, Debbie Stabenow, followed with a much more detailed section-by-section summary of her draft bill.

A package of fiscal 2024 spending bills released by congressional leaders Sunday includes new provisions to address concerns about foreign acquisition of U.S. farmland and agribusiness interests and also provides full funding for the Women, Infants and Children nutrition assistance program.

USDA staff fail to “sufficiently verify” the accuracy of foreign land ownership data and are slow to share information on those landholdings with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the Government Accountability Office says in a long-awaited audit. 

The Agriculture Department is working to update its system for tracking agricultural land leases and purchases to appease lawmaker demands, but staffing and funding limitations have limited the agency to "low-cost" options, a department official told the Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday.