File with your county office within 90 days of land transactions

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) Executive Director Jim Locke in Montgomery County reminds foreign investors with an interest in agricultural land in the United States that they are required to report their land holdings and transactions to USDA.

The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) requires foreign investors who buy, sell or hold an interest in U.S. agricultural land to report their holdings and transactions to the USDA. Foreign investors must file AFIDA Report Form FSA-153 with the FSA county office in the county where the land is located.  Large or complex filings may be handled by AFIDA headquarters staff in Washington, D.C.

According to CFR Title 7 Part 781, any foreign person who holds an interest in U.S. agricultural land is required to report their holdings no later than 90 days after the date of the transaction.

Foreign investors should report holdings of agricultural land totaling 10 acres or more used for farming, ranching or timber production, and leaseholds on agricultural land of 10 or more years.  Tracts totaling 10 acres or less in the aggregate, and which produce annual gross receipts in excess of $1,000 from the sale of farm, ranch, forestry or timber products, must also be reported.  AFIDA reports are also required when there are changes in land use, such as from agricultural to nonagricultural use. Foreign investors must also file a report when there is a change in the status of ownership.

The information from AFIDA reports is used to prepare an annual report to Congress.  These annual reports to Congress, as well as more information, are available on the FSA AFIDA webpage. .

Assistance in completing the FSA-153 report may be obtained from the local FSA office. For more information regarding AFIDA or FSA programs, contact the Montgomery County FSA office at 662-283-2443 or visit farmers.gov.

Program payments may be limited by direct attribution to individuals or entities. A legal entity is defined as an entity created under Federal or State law that owns land or an agricultural commodity, product or livestock. Through direct attribution, payment limitation is based on the total payments received by a person or legal entity, both and indirectly. Qualifying spouses are eligible for a separate payment limitation. 

Payments and benefits under certain FSA programs are subject to some or all of the following:  

• payment limitation by direct attribution (including common attribution)  
• payment limitation amounts for the applicable programs  
• substantive change requirements when a farming operation adds persons, resulting in an increase in persons to which payment limitation applies  
• actively engaged in farming requirements  
• cash-rent tenant rule  
• foreign person rule  
• average AGI limitations  
• programs subject to AGI limitation  

No program benefits subject to payment eligibility and limitation will be provided until all required forms for the specific situation are provided and necessary payment eligibility and payment limitation determinations are made.  Payment eligibility and payment limitation determinations may be initiated by the County Committee or requested by the producer. 

Statutory and Regulatory rules require persons and legal entities, provide the names and Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) for all persons and legal entities with an ownership interest in the farming operation to be eligible for payment.  

Payment eligibility and payment limitation forms submitted by persons and legal entities are subject to spot check through FSA’s end-of-year review process. 

Persons or legal entities selected for end-of-year review must provide the County Committee with operating loan documents, income and expense ledgers, canceled checks for all expenditures, lease and purchase agreements, sales contracts, property tax statements, equipment listings, lease agreements, purchase contracts, documentation of who provided actual labor and management, employee time sheets or books, crop sales documents, warehouse ledgers, gin ledgers, corporate or entity papers, etc.  

A finding that a person or legal entity is not actively engaged in farming results in the person or legal entity being ineligible for any payment or benefit subject to the actively engaged in farming rules.  Noncompliance with AGI provisions, either by exceeding the applicable limitation or failure to submit a certification and consent for disclosure statement, will result in payment ineligibility for all program benefits subject to AGI provisions. Program payments are reduced in an amount that is commensurate with the direct and indirect interest held by an ineligible person or legal entity in any legal entity, general partnership, or joint operation that receives benefits subject to the average AGI limitations.  

If any changes occur that could affect an actively engaged in farming, cash-rent tenant, foreign person, or average Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) determination, producers must timely notify the County FSA Office by filing revised farm operating plans and/or supporting documentation, as applicable. Failure to timely notify the County Office may adversely affect payment eligibility.