Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Gipson Addresses Foreign Ownership of Mississippi Farmland

Ag Commish Andrew Gipson issued the following press release. 

Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce Andy Gipson shared the latest United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report on Foreign Holdings of U.S. Agricultural Land with members of the Mississippi Legislature. The report disclosed a net increase of 184,619 acres of Mississippi agricultural land owned by foreign interests. Acreage increased from 757,816 in 2021 to 942,435 acres in 2022. This report from USDA is a full year more recent than the December 31, 2021, report previously included in the Foreign Purchase of Farmland Study Committee’s findings released to the Legislature in November.

 

“Due to the large net increase of 184,619 acres of Mississippi foreign-held land above the 2021 report, I feel compelled to provide this updated report to the Mississippi Legislature in advance of the 2024 Regular Session,” said Commissioner Gipson. “This represents a net increase of 184,619 acres, or 24.3% above the prior USDA report as of December 31, 2021, of 757,816 agricultural acres held by foreign interests. The 757,816 agricultural acres was previously reported in the Foreign Purchase of Farmland Study Committee’s Final Report dated November 28, 2023. It is unclear whether this reported increase is the result of increased purchases by foreign interests, or increased reporting to USDA of prior acquisitions. This newly released foreign ownership report adds clear urgency to our Study Committee’s recommendation that the Mississippi Legislature act in 2024.”

MDAC is reviewing the updated report as of December 31, 2022, for any other material changes from the 2021 report and will be updating its Foreign Purchase of Farmland website (www.mdac.ms.gov/farmlandand related statements with these developments.

 

The most recent USDA report of Foreign Holdings of U.S. Agricultural Land available at: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/EPAS/PDF/2022_afida_annual_report_12_14_23.pdf

  

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

Other than yapping and waving the numbers around in the air, what does 'The Hat' recommend be done?

He claims to be an attorney but I've yet to hear him come out in favor of outlawing the sale of land to non citizens.

Anonymous said...

I guess I don’t understand the phobia against foreign ownership of farm land. Don’t they have to pay taxes too? Would you prefer have a an Epstein-connected billionaire American pedophile own it all instead?

Anonymous said...

I’m guessing most of Canada’s 12 million acres is CN railroad land.

Anonymous said...

So what if Bill Gates owns 17,000 acres and hopes we poors learn to like bugs for dinner? So what if Soros owns our largest car dealer chain, and funds left wing local officeholders? So what if China or the UK or other foreign nations own a million acres?

Well, it makes a difference if it IS an ally or not. I'm a lot more worried about leftist idiotic politics than allies owning land.

The vast majority of foreign-controlled land in Mississippi is held by friendly nations. The Netherlands holds over 357,000 acres and Germany holds just over 60,000. On the other side of the spectrum is China, which holds just 88 acres of agricultural land.

An effort spearheaded by Rep. Becky Currie to completely ban the purchase of farmland by foreign investors led to the committee’s creation.

Gipson says a more measured approach is needed to avoid unintended consequences.

Wall Street, a wholly owned subsidiary of China, of course LOVES any foreign capital and involvement!!! So do RINOs and Leftists and the urban elite.

What could happen? If Andy passes something, it'll just be to use the Fake Miss. Family Farm myth enrich the .1% of Mississippi even more.

Not to help the middle class or working class. Ever. Big Farma is the same as Big Pharma. Part of a rigged game.

They've sacrificed the actual small family farmer, the factory workers, the middle class, teachers, cops, firemen, soldiers and everyday small business owners to Big Finance and others LONG LONG AGO. And the sporting clays Range Rover set LOVES that.

Andy's just now noticing?? I wonder how many Ag Dept junkets emphasized this land before? Again, for their personal gain at OUR expense.

Anonymous said...

Someone explain how countries across the world are “buying” farmland in Mississippi? This is a bad idea! We really don’t know who is behind this! Wake up Mississippi!

Anonymous said...

Whose idea is this? We should not be selling our land to foreign countries! Whose idea was this?

Anonymous said...

Many issues at play here which “go without saying”; not the least of which is worldwide money printing.

That capital has to go to somewhere and few things are ultimately more long term desirable than farmland.

Anonymous said...

Are there some Chinese language classes in the area?

Anonymous said...

Sinophobia is not good for this country. We call the enemies of humanity our “greatest allies” and make enemies of a nation who wants to recreate the status and prestige that we had in the 1950s and 1960s before the enemies of humanity set us on a path of moral decay and spiritual suicide.

Anonymous said...

Good info there
Do we know his plan ? What will he ask MS Legislators to do?

Anonymous said...

7:15 and 8:51 it's not AG's place to tell the Legislature what to do. He's presenting them with facts that they will either ignore, or act upon. The issue seems rather clear, doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

I got it: AG4AGN24

Anonymous said...

More scare tactics so we will have to rely on government. Who owns more land outside their borders than anybody? The USA 🇺🇸of course. We ban them, they ban us. We confiscate theirs, they confiscate ours. Really a stupid discussion to whip up the fears of ignorant people.

Anonymous said...

We have sold this country and our souls to the devil. It is only a matter of time before we ALL have nothing or are dead.

Anonymous said...

@7:18 really? you don't get it? when another country owns the land in this country we technically become their country. It is only a matter of time people.... you are going to wake up one day and your debit cards aren't going to work and all hell is going to break loose.

Anonymous said...

@12/19, 7:18pm
You don't want foreigners owning Mississippi farmland for the same reason you don't want out-of-state landlords: they don't have the same incentive to improve the land/property. They care a lot less about erosion, overuse of pesticides and herbicides, soil depletion, etc.

Also, Epstein has zero to do with this. That's "whataboutism" at its worst.

Anonymous said...

If you want to know about Chinese agricultural practices, take a look at what has happened to Chinese farmland in the last 60 years. They have entire orchards that must be painstakingly hand pollinated because their farming practices killed off all the pollinators. Dig around a bit online and see how they absolutely ruined their own farmland… then you’ll understand why most of us don’t want any Chinese ownership of Mississippi farmland.

Anonymous said...

7:18 - you darn right I had rather have a pedophile own the land rather than a foreign country. The pedophile can be arrested and prosecuted. And if you think that all this land is being purchased by private foreign investors, you're wrong. Their names may be on the deed, but in reality they are pawns for their governments.

Anonymous said...

I met a South African farmer in the Delta. He worked soil here in the off season. Good dude.

Anonymous said...

So what if foreign governments own US soil, right? They just want a little bit.

So what if we let a few million illegals into the country? They just want jobs.

So what if we have a handful of anti-Americans in congress? A few can't be harmful.

So what if all the failing major cities are run by liberal socialists? We can just ignore those places.

So what if we are required to embrace abhorrent practices and behaviors? They just want to be left alone.

So what if we have a few liberal professors one day and thousands the next year? Our kids are smart enough to ignore communist teachings.

My guess is, the 'so what' will be our eventual slide into Gomorrah. But Hell! So what?

Anonymous said...

Some perspective: that’s a 0.6% increase (from 2.4% to 3.0% of Mississippi land). Nothing to worry about here.

Plus I really like the delicious Smithfield products the Chinese sell me. Hint: they’re pretty good at capitalism. They’ll make money on the land, be taxed and subjugated just like the rest of us. And they can’t take the land back home!!!! Again, nothing to worry about here.

Anonymous said...

@9:05,
But they can take the land back home, in a sense. Farming done wrong depletes the land - making it useless for agricultural going forward without expensive inputs. All you have to do is look at farmland in China to understand that we don't want Chinese interests managing American farmland.

Anonymous said...

@7:08
You must be ignorant of the Epstein-connected billionaire who is buying up farmland.
(hint: his wife Melinda divorced him when she confirmed how much he liked flying to the Bahamas to enjoy underage Ukrainian girls)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for letting us know how many acres pf ;and foreign countries own. Now how about telling us how many of our politicians foreign countries own.

Paul Messer said...

British-owned Delta & Pine Land Company, based in Scott, Mississippi, was the largest cotton plantation in the world in the first half of the 20th century. They are now owned by Bayer, a German company, and their focus is on research and producing cotton and soybean seed. Not all foreign investment is to be feared.

Anonymous said...

Lol at all of you Sinophobic hayseeds.
I’ve been to China a dozen times in the last 10 years.
Yes China has problems but ours are far worse (They have no equivalent of Jackson/Baltimore/Detroit/St.Louis)
Everywhere in China is better than anywhere in Mississippi.
There simply is not enough land in China to feed nearly 2 billion people.

Anonymous said...

@12:18 The Chinese Communist Party thanks you for your comment. Dont let the fat capitalist know the truth about us.

Anonymous said...

"Sinophobic hayseeds," said no Mississippian ever.

Tell us, 12:18, how much does the Chinese Communist Party pay per post? Or are do they use slave labor, perhaps?

Anonymous said...

If we didn't spend so much money buying Chinese products, they would not have the money to buy up the property in the US. Buy US made products only.

Anonymous said...

@4:48
That is literally impossible for anyone who doesn’t have a federal budget. The value of the dollar has been robbed by the policy of fractional-reserve banking. The American dream is over for the average American. And the smart boomers are moving to cheap places like Latin America and SE Asia where the American Peso is worth a little bit more than the Local Peso.

Anonymous said...

I personally would not mind that one of our greatest allies buy up, say, several hundred square miles of Mississippi and then decamp into said square miles their deplorables, their tired, their poor, their huddled masses yearning to breathe free and clean air not filled with concrete dust. Diversity, after all, is America’s greatest superpower. It’s win-win-win.

Anonymous said...

Y’all going to scare away the few people who want to come to Missippi!

Anonymous said...

Most of the “Foreign Owned” land is owned by companies, not nations. Any Chinese owned land is suspect due to the involvement of their government. Otherwise, for example, Holland owns no land here. People from Holland do. That’s free enterprise which most Americans support. Many Americans own property in Holland and Great Britain and Germany and so on. Further, it seems people are conflating ownership of land with “Taking Over” our state. The citizens of this state are the voters and voters control our government. Holland doesn’t get a vote even if they own the whole county.



Recent Comments

Search Jackson Jambalaya

Subscribe to JJ's Youtube channel

Archives

Trollfest '09

Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, “How I sold out to da Man.” Robbie Bell again performs: “Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells” and “Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine”. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to “Dancing with the Stars”, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.

Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and “Big Cat” Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).


Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.

Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".

In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.

Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.

Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.


Note: Security provided by INS.

Trollfest '07

Jackson Jambalaya is the home of Trollfest '07. Catch this great event which promises to leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Sonjay Poontang and his band headline the night with a special steel cage, no time limit "loser must leave town" bout between Alan Lange and "Big Cat"Donna Ladd following afterwards. Kamikaze will perform his new song F*** Bush, he's still a _____. Did I mention there was no referee? Dr. Heddy Matthias and Lori Gregory will face off in the undercard dueling with dangling participles and other um, devices. Robbie Bell will perform Her two latest songs: My Best Friends are in the Media and Mama's, Don't Let Your Babies Grow up to be George Bell. Sid Salter of The Clarion-Ledger will host "Pin the Tail on the Trial Lawyer", sponsored by State Farm.

There will be a hugging booth where in exchange for your young son, Frank Melton will give you a loooong hug. Trollfest will have a dunking booth where Muhammed the terrorist will curse you to Allah as you try to hit a target that will drop him into a vat of pig grease. However, in the true spirit of Separate But Equal, Don Imus and someone from NE Jackson will also sit in the dunking booth for an equal amount of time. Tom Head will give a reading for two hours on why he can't figure out who the hell he is. Cliff Cargill will give lessons with his .80 caliber desert eagle, using Frank Melton photos as targets. Tackleberry will be on hand for an autograph session. KIM Waaaaaade will be passing out free titles and deeds to crackhouses formerly owned by The Wood Street Players.

If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

This is definitely a Beaver production.

Note: Security provided by INS
.