Foreign-Held U.S. Farmland · country dossier
China
Investors attributed to China reported holding 248K acres of US agricultural land as of 2024-12-31 — 0.52% of all foreign-held US farmland, across 168 holdings.
- Acres (2024)
- 247,659
- Share of foreign-held
- 0.5%
- Holdings
- 168
- Held as ownership
- 99%
Country of concern. The USDA annual report carries a dedicated section on holdings attributed to China; the register has flagged secondary Chinese interests behind other countries' holdings since 2023. Flagged holdings. The register flags 2 holding(s) attributed to China as carrying a secondary interest in a country of concern — see the attribution-gap section.
Fifteen-year trend
Reported China holdings grew from 69K acres in 2010 to 248K in 2024, peaking at 384K in 2021. Figures are reported holdings under AFIDA — self-reported minimums that include leases of ten years or longer.
| Year | Reported acres |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 247,659 |
| 2023 | 277,336 |
| 2022 | 311,608 |
| 2021 | 383,935 |
| 2020 | 352,140 |
| 2019 | 247,268 |
| 2018 | 247,216 |
| 2017 | 246,966 |
| 2016 | 246,543 |
| 2015 | 246,716 |
| 2014 | 246,585 |
| 2013 | 248,503 |
| 2012 | 97,739 |
| 2011 | 69,295 |
| 2010 | 69,120 |
Where, and what kind of land
Largest states
Land use (acres)
Aggregated from the USDA FSA AFIDA detailed holdings files (public domain) — see the full dataset, methodology, and the register's documented defects at Foreign-Held U.S. Farmland. Country is the reported first-tier investor, not a verified ultimate parent. Aggregate-level only; no record-level owner names. Keyless JSON for all countries: /foreign-farmland/index.json. CC0.