FARM Act (CFIUS Agricultural Review)

Current understanding

The FARM Act would add the Secretary of Agriculture as a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and require mandatory CFIUS review of covered foreign transactions that could result in control of U.S. agricultural businesses. The bill also designates agricultural systems as critical infrastructure, bringing the food and agriculture sector formally within the CFIUS foreign-investment national-security screening regime. Status: introduced.

Evidence log

• 2026-05-07 — Protecting U.S. Farmland and Sensitive Sites From Foreign Adversaries Act: HR8700 (Protecting U.S. Farmland and Sensitive Sites From Foreign Adversaries Act) offers an alternative legislative vehicle to the FARM Act’s CFIUS-based approach, layering restrictions on foreign-adversary acquisition of farmland and sensitive sites rather than restructuring CFIUS membership. (novelty: 2)
• 2025-10-14 — PASS Act of 2025: PASS Act of 2025 parallels the FARM Act’s structural CFIUS reform (adding USDA Secretary to CFIUS, requiring review of foreign ag investments) while layering categorical prohibitions on China/Russia/Iran/North Korea persons and entities acquiring U.S. agricultural land or companies, plus USDA national-security risk reporting and presidential waiver authority. (novelty: 3)
• 2025-09-18 — Protecting the USMCA from Harmful Chinese Investment Act: cross-connection with protecting-usmca-chinese-investment-act: Both extend CFIUS-adjacent screening logic to sector-specific concerns about Chinese investment (agriculture vs. USMCA-linked commerce). (novelty: 2)
• 2025-03-28 — FARMLAND Act of 2025: cross-connection with farmland-act-2025: Both expand CFIUS review to cover foreign agricultural land transactions; FARMLAND Act sets a $5M/320-acre threshold and adds USDA and FDA to CFIUS. (novelty: 3)
• 2025-03-12 — SOIL Act of 2025: cross-connection with cfius-agricultural-land-national-security-review: Both bills propose adding an agricultural dimension to CFIUS review; SOIL Act pairs the review requirement with subsidy bans and expanded disclosure. (novelty: 3)
• 2025-03-06 — PASS Act: cross-connection with pass-act: Both proposals add the Secretary of Agriculture to CFIUS for agriculture-related transactions; the PASS Act layers adversary-specific prohibitions on top of the FARM Act’s structural CFIUS reform. (novelty: 3)
• 2025-02-18 — Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act of 2025: cross-connection with protecting-americas-agricultural-land-foreign-harm-act: Complementary approaches to foreign adversary control of U.S. agricultural assets: the FARM Act works through CFIUS review of agricultural transactions, while this bill imposes categorical land purchase/lease bans and USDA program exclusions on adversary-linked persons. (novelty: 3)
• 2026-06-15 — Protect America’s Innovation and Economic Security from CCP Act: cross-connection with ccp-initiative-doj-national-security: Both target China-related national security risks — CCP Initiative covers foreign investment risk review while FARM Act adds agricultural land to CFIUS jurisdiction. (novelty: 3)
• 2025-09-18 — Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, and Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2026: cross-connection with milcon-va-ag-legbranch-appropriations-fy2026: HR3944’s Agriculture-FDA title funds USDA activities that intersect with agricultural national-security review authorities addressed by the FARM Act. (novelty: 2)
• 2025-01-22 — FARM Act: Finding reintroduces the FARM Act’s core provisions: adding USDA Secretary to CFIUS, mandating review of foreign investments in U.S. agricultural businesses, and classifying agricultural systems as critical infrastructure (status: introduced). (novelty: 3)
• 2025-02-28 — FARM Act: cross-connection with foreign-agricultural-land-national-security: Both address national-security concerns over foreign control of U.S. agricultural assets; the FARM Act extends CFIUS jurisdiction to agricultural business investments, complementing the reporting/restriction regime for foreign agricultural land ownership. (novelty: 3)

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