Firms from China operating farms stateside (U.S.) are growing circumspect amid ongoing solar exodus over foreign land ownership regulations.
Fox Baltimore reported on July 17, 2025 that Utah’s governor Spencer Cox pointedly tracked a land sale blockage by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.
Spencer’s comments echo oriental land ownership trends in a 2023 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The document showed that 93% of U.S.-based companies from China leased land in Utah and four other states.
One of these other states is Missouri, which is considering a ban on the 1% cap for land it allows foreign owners. If this happens, the top pork processor in China, WH Group, could lose 40,000 acres at its ex-Smithfield Foods operation in MI.
The news development comes in the wake of President Trump’s National Farm Security Action Plan.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on July 8 further stated an intention to ban and reclaim China’s land ownership over national security.
The plan seeks to prevent infiltration by trade foes that hold 1% of the 2% foreign-owned federal land.
An independent tally shows that China actually leases just 0.02% of the total agricultural land under foreign hands.
Canada and international alfalfa growers growers in Arizona lead the foreign ownership by far.
Solar Companies’ Stateside Retreat
Meanwhile, solar entities from China have begun backing down from the U.S. following a recent levy-and-spending bill.
According to Nikkei Asia, China’s Trina Solar alongside JA Solar sold off their panel industries between January and July 2025.
The retreat could also influence other firms that have come to exploit prospects of the number 2 biggest global energy user.
Does the land and solar issue now hint that stateside farms by China are dying off? The below statistics take the fight further through data.
Statistics on China Farms’ Operations in the United States
By December 31, 2023, almost 45 million acres of U.S.’ agricultural land were under foreign investments. This is according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s AFIDA report. The report further stated that this acreage represented 3.5% of all private landholding nationally. In marginal terms, forestry represented 48% of all foreign acreage while crop- and pasture-land accounted for 29% and 21%, respectively. Out of this total acreage, China by end 2023 held 0.02% of foreign landholding in the U.S. According to an American Farm Bureau (FB) tally, this portion totaled up to 277,336 acres that year.
How does China compare with other foreign land investors in the United States?
In 2023, China was at least the 20th biggest overseas owner of land in the United States. According to an FB tally, Canada led the 2023 ownership claim with a 1.21% share followed by the Netherlands with 0.41%. With its 0.02% share, China trailed the likes of Belgium (0.03%) and Spain (0.02%). Conversely, other political adversaries of the U.S. still own land stateside: Venezuela held 90,291 acres in 2023, Iran 3,030 acres, Cuba 58 acres and Russia 11 acres.
What do companies from China farm in the U.S.?
Some of the biggest agricultural concerns by Sino-American companies on federal land is pork production and solar energy installations. One instance is Smithfield Foods of Missouri, whose 40,000 acres passed to China’s biggest pork producer, WH Group, in 2013.