FARM Act — USDA on CFIUS & Agricultural Critical Infrastructure

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 foreign investments that could result in control of U.S. agricultural businesses. It would also designate agricultural systems and supply chains as critical infrastructure, extending the CFIUS national-security review framework into the food and farm sector.

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, introduced) is an incremental proposal in the same policy space as the FARM Act, addressing foreign-adversary acquisition/control of agricultural land and other sensitive sites, though its precise CFIUS integration is not yet established. (novelty: 2)
• 2025-10-14 — PASS Act of 2025: PASS Act of 2025 (introduced) parallels the FARM Act by placing the Secretary of Agriculture on CFIUS and mandating CFIUS review of certain foreign agricultural investments, but scopes prohibitions to China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea with presidential waiver authority. (novelty: 3)
• 2025-03-28 — FARMLAND Act of 2025: FARMLAND Act of 2025 parallels the FARM Act’s USDA-on-CFIUS structural change but goes further by also adding the FDA Commissioner to CFIUS and setting explicit numeric jurisdictional thresholds ($5M or 320 acres) covering both agricultural and critical-materials land. (novelty: 3)
• 2025-03-12 — SOIL Act of 2025: SOIL Act of 2025 (introduced) parallels the FARM Act by extending CFIUS review to agricultural-land investments, but narrows scope to nonmarket/national-security-risk countries and pairs it with a federal ag-assistance ban rather than a broader USDA-on-CFIUS restructuring. (novelty: 3)
• 2025-03-06 — PASS Act: PASS Act proposes a parallel USDA-on-CFIUS mechanism scoped to agriculture-related transactions, overlapping the FARM Act’s structural change but pairing it with adversary-specific (China/Russia/Iran/DPRK) prohibitions on ag land near military sites and ag company control. (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: Parallel legislative track: FARM Act routes foreign ag investment through CFIUS review, while this bill imposes categorical bans on covered-country persons — complementary approaches to the same policy problem. (novelty: 3)
• 2025-01-22 — FARM Act: Finding reaffirms core provisions: USDA seat on CFIUS, mandatory review of foreign investments in U.S. agricultural businesses, and classification of agricultural systems as critical infrastructure. (novelty: 3)
• 2025-02-28 — FARM Act: cross-connection with foreign-agricultural-land-investment-disclosure: AFIDA provides post-hoc disclosure of foreign agricultural land holdings; the FARM Act would add prospective CFIUS review authority over foreign investment in agricultural businesses. (novelty: 3)

Open questions

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