116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
New foreign farmland bill lacks transparency requirements
Iowa lawmakers consider other bills affecting Iowa’s water, land and air
Foreign investors or companies that own Iowa farmland would be required to report more detailed information to the Iowa government or face steep fines under a new bill introduced Thursday.
Senate Study Bill 3113 would require the Secretary of State to do more tracking and reporting of foreign farmland ownership and give the Iowa Attorney General subpoena power to investigate violations.
Iowa’s law governing foreign ownership of agricultural land is one of the strictest in the nation.
“But as China’s threat adapts, our laws should too,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said in her Condition of the State address Jan. 9. “Because we cannot let foreign governments undermine the agricultural dominance our farmers have worked so hard to build.”
Reynolds said she wanted more transparency of foreign land ownership, but SSB 3113 requires all information reported to the Secretary of State be confidential. Even an annual report prepared by the agency for the governor and lawmakers would be shielded from the public.
Iowa has nearly 514,000 acres of foreign-owned or leased farmland, according to the most recent data reported to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. More than 90 percent of those acres are in long-term leases for wind and solar projects, a Gazette investigation found. Other land was purchased before 1980, when Iowa prohibited most foreign ag land ownership.
The Iowa AG’s Office is reviewing whether the purchase of more than 75 acres of Linn County farmland slated to be part of a large solar project near Coggon violates state law prohibiting foreign ownership of agricultural land. Developer Clenera Energy is owned by Enlight Renewable Energy LTD, based in Israel.
Iowa’s law already requires foreign farmland owners to register with the state, but SSB 3113 says new registrations must include names, addresses, birthplaces and nationalities of owners and any agents or trustees who “supervise the daily operation” of the farmland.
Foreign owners also must declare their purpose for conducting business in Iowa.
Failure to register in a timely manner could carry a civil penalty of up to 25 percent of the assessed value of the land. The average value of Iowa farmland for 2023 was just under $12,000 per acre. So the fine for failure to report one 40-acre parcel could be $120,000 or more.
Foreign owners also would be required to file a biennial report with the state or face a fine of up to $10,000.
Other bills about land, water and air
Iowa’s 2024 legislative session has featured other bills would affect Iowa’s land, water and air. Here are six introduced by Republicans, who control both the Iowa House and Senate:
House Study Bill 607 would allow animal feeding operations to keep spreading manure while a new manure management plan is under review or after state regulators have denied the plan, but it’s being appealed.
“This would allow manure application during the review process and in the case of plan disapproval, until all legal remedies have been exhausted, which can be years,” said Steve Veysey, retired Iowa State University employee and water quality advocate. “The worst imaginable manure plans would get a free pass for years.”
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City, is married to Becky Sexton, a consultant with Twin Lakes Environmental Services.
Becky Sexton prepared a manure plan for Supreme Beef, an 11,600-head cattle feedlot near Monona. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources approved the plan in April 2021, but then a Polk County judge overturned it in April 2023.
The DNR told Supreme Beef after that ruling they could not remove manure from the site until they had an approved plan in place, which didn’t happen until Nov. 22.
House File 2104 says the Iowa DNR can't buy land at auction and can't buy property from a nonprofit, like the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, to make it public land. Similar bills to limit the DNR or counties from acquiring more land for conservation or recreation have been proposed in 2019 and 2023 even though Iowa ranks near the bottom of states for its share of public land.
Senate File 530 creates penalties for public bodies selling water. This bill was proposed months after parts of a northwest Iowa river ran dry because a local water utility was selling the water out of state.
Senate File 520 would prohibit flying a drone over a "secure farmstead" without permission. A similar bill, House File 572, passed the Iowa House last year and now is being considered by a Senate subcommittee.
These bills are a response to animal welfare groups using drones to show conditions at animal feeding operations and dog breeders.
Senate Study Bill 3103 says the Iowa DNR would no longer be able to accept anonymous complaints about possible environmental violations. The bill says DNR complaints must include the complainant’s name and if the DNR chooses to investigate, the agency has to make the complainant’s name know to the subject of the probe.
For context, it was an anonymous complaint that first alerted the DNR to a fish kill on McLoud Run last spring caused by a water main break.
Iowa Democrats have proposed some environmental bills too, but they don't have much chance of passage in a GOP-controlled Statehouse. House File 2124 would place a moratorium on new animal confinement structures and House File 2029 would require buffer strips between crops and waterways.
Comments: (319) 339-3157; erin.jordan@thegazette.com
Daily Newsletters