Since 2020, private land owned by foreign investors in Mississippi has increased by 23%.
A report from the United States Department of Agriculture released in November shows 942,435 acres in foreign hands as of December 2022, up from 747,267 in 2020.
Foreign-owned land made up 3.1% of all acreage in the state and 3.8% of all the privately held property.
“It is unclear whether this reported increase is the result of increased purchases by foreign interests, or increased reporting to USDA of prior acquisitions,” Mississippi Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson said in a press release his office issued Tuesday.
In the Golden Triangle, there were 7,695 foreign-owned acres in Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay counties, consisting of German (1,226 acres) and Costa Rican (743 acres) ownership as of December 2022, a 21-acre increase from 7,674 two years prior.
Statewide, the top five home countries for foreign investors in Mississippi land are the Netherlands, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy.
Foreign-held land in Golden Triangle
In Lowndes County, there are 783 acres owned by foreign land, with all but 40 of that owned by a Costa Rica-based company, Naturelle Investments LLC, according to the report.
Lowndes County Tax Assessor Greg Andrews told The Dispatch that Naturelle Investments sold 673 acres of its property in April to Aluminum Dynamics Inc. for the buildout of its aluminum mill on Charleigh D. Ford Jr. Drive.
ADI announced a $2.5 billion project in 2022 to build the mill and a biocarbon manufacturing facility on Artesia Road.
Of that land, there are four parcels of 41 acres for crops, 528 acres of pasture, 2 acres of timberland and 213 acres of non-agriculturally related property.
In Oktibbeha County, there are 975 acres of crop and timberland, owned entirely by a German entity, the USDA report indicates. The county saw no change in the amount of land owned by foreigners since 2020.
Clay County has most of the foreign-owned land in the region, consisting of 5,937 acres in four parcels.
Of that land, 4,817 acres are used for crops, 301 as pastures, 490 for harvesting lumber and 208 for non-agriculturally used land. The report indicates these owners hail from “other” countries not among the top five.
Either German citizens or entities also own 251 acres.
Tax assessors from all three counties told The Dispatch there are no state or local regulations requiring landowners to record foreign nationality. Those records are held on the federal level.
How non-U.S. citizens own land in Mississippi
There are several ways for foreigners to obtain land in Mississippi.
State law allows foreigners, classified as non-resident aliens, to obtain any amount of land through inheritance from a resident. Non-residents can also directly invest in up to 320 acres on any parcel to develop industries in an area and up to 10 acres for residences.
Gipson’s report, submitted to the state legislature in response to USDA’s most recent data, notes that foreign entities and citizens can also legally obtain land by forming American companies and purchasing land for commercial use through entities, such as a limited liability company.
Local examples of this include Airbus, a French aviation company with a helicopter manufacturing plant in Lowndes County; Yokohama, a Japanese tire manufacturer with a plant in West Point; and Terberg Taylor Americas LLC, a tractor manufacturer in Lowndes County, which is co-owned by a Netherlands based company, Royal Terberg Group.
Gipson said in his report that the legislature should consider passing laws to regulate foreign companies who own land by forming American companies, which is not currently regulated.
“I am deeply concerned by the dramatic increase in foreign ownership of Mississippi’s most valuable asset, our farmland,” Gipson said. “I believe most Mississippians share this concern, and I encourage the Mississippi Legislature to utilize the information contained in the study committee’s report as the basis from which to act during the 2024 Regular Legislative Session.”
Mississippi would not be the first state to pass such legislation. There are 23 other states with laws regulating foreign land ownership, including Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas, according to the National Agriculture Law Center.
Arkansas also earlier this year passed a law directing a subsidiary of a Chinese company to divest 160 acres of farmland within two years once it was revealed the Chinese Communist Party directly owned the company.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
everyone interested should be writing letters to Ms State vet school. they used to have mobile spay units that went to a number of shelters and did spay and neutering. majority of people cant afford the hi prices and shelters are letting out animals that have not been fixed. The school had standards that were impossible to meet like moving all the dogs out of kennels before cleaning. the hoses do not harm he dogs. volunteers are in short supply as are more kennels. they use our dogs to train the students. every shelter and rescue in the state are overrun. the school gets our tax money. they need to be giving back. calls do nothing. write letters