Farmland for Farmers Act of 2026

Key Points

• This bill bans large corporations, investment funds, and other complex business entities from buying new farmland anywhere in the United States. It targets the growing trend of institutional investors snapping up agricultural land since the 2008 financial crisis.
• To legally own farmland, a business must have 25 or fewer owners, all of whom must be real people actively involved in farming. Simply providing money is not enough to qualify as being "actively engaged in farming."
• Companies that already own farmland on the date of enactment can keep it, but they will be barred from participating in USDA programs and the Farm Credit System going forward.
• Violations carry steep consequences: civil penalties up to twice the fair market value of the land, forced divestiture within one year, and criminal penalties of up to five years in prison for individuals who knowingly break the law.
• States are explicitly authorized to pass even stricter rules than the federal standard, giving local governments more power to control who owns farmland within their borders.