Foreign parties bought an estimated 3.4 million acres of farmland in 2022, prompting an 8% increase in foreign-owned land year-on-year, Reuters reports. 

Colorado, Alabama and Michigan saw the biggest increases, with Canada remaining the largest investor.

Canadian-owned U.S. farmland accounts for 32% of the total. Chinese holdings, which have been a concern to lawmakers aiming to restrict foreign-ownership, stand at 350,000 acres, with a slight decrease compared to 2021 and accounting for 1% of foreign investments.

Total number of acres owned by foreign entities stands at 43.4 million acres, representing 3.4% of the country’s total agricultural land. These figures have grown increasingly in the past six years, averaging three  million acres a year, USDA says.

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In July, U.S. Senator Cory Booker introduced the Farmland for Farmers Act, seeking to address “rising rates of corporate farmland investment by limiting future ownership and leasing by corporate investors to ensure that farmland in the United States stays in the hands of farmers.”

"We must protect farmland from becoming an investment strategy for huge corporations and ensure independent family farmers are not locked out of opportunities to thrive," Booker said in a release announcing the bill July 27.