—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 31,1979
14
Who really awns the
By JERRY WEBB
NEWARK, Del - How
many foreigners own farms
in this country? There’s alot
of gnawing on that topic
going on right now. Officials
are finding there isn’t much
solid information. For sure
there’s an influx of foreign
money into the, American
countryside. How much and
just where it’s in
somewhat a mystery.
Concern Is mounting in
official Washington, D.C.
and in the conference rooms
of the many farm
organizations stabled in the
nation’s capital. There’s
kind of a grass-roots feeling
that the influx of foreign
money into farming is bigger
than most of ns realize and
along with that seems to be
the attitude that any foreign
ownership of this nation’s
food-producing capacity is
bad. Maybe it’s all right for
foreigners to own hotels and
Livestock market and auction news
Indiana
Auction
(Continued from Pace 12)
CALVES 120. Vealers
grading Good & Choice, 2
to 5 lower, Standard & Good
3 to 8 lower, few Prime
vealers 114.00-117.00, Choice
100.00-114.00; Good 90.00-
106.00; 90-120 lbs. 82.00-
101.00,6045 lbs. 60.0082.00.
FARM CALVES: Hoi.
Bulls 90-120 lbs 89.00-110.00,
few Hoi. Heifers 35-95 lbs.
89.00- few 93-120 lbs.
140.00-
HOGS 80. Barrows and
gilts mostly 7.00 lower. No. 1-f
3 215-240 lbs. 41.00-42.75, few
43.25, few No. 2-3 220-230 lbs.
39.00- few No. 1-3 170-
195 lbs. 38.00-40.00. SOWS US
No. 1-3 305-570 lbs. sows
38.00- few BOARS 32.50-
42.00.
SHEEP 19. Wooled si.
lambs Good 75-105 lbs. 45.50-
54.00, couple at 69.00.
Pa. Auction
Summary
Friday, March 30
16 Livestock
Auction Markets
This week: Cattle 6689,
Calves 3680, Hogs 9767,
Feeder Pigs 1150, Graded
Feeder Pigs 2381, Sheep 803.
Last week: Cattle 7279,
Calves 3737, Hogs 8136,
Feeder Pigs 948, Graded
Feeder Pip 2997, Sheep 521.
Last year: Cattle 8272,
Calves 4309, Hop 8097,
Feeder Pip 1263, Graded
Feeder pip 3062, Sheep 274.
Compared with last week,
slaughter steers $1 to $1.50
lower, heifers and bullocks
$l.OO to $2.00 lower.
Slaughter cows steady to
$l.OO higher, slaughter bulls
steady to $2.00 lower.
SLAUGHTER STEERS:
High choice and prime
71.85-75.00. Choice
69.00- Good 62.00-70.00,
Standard 60.00-66.00.
SLAUGHTER HEIFERS:
Choice 64.00-71.00, Good
58.00- standard
53.0063.00.
COWS: Utility and com
merdal cows 53.00-59.00, cut
ter 51.00-56.00, Conner and
low cutter 46.75-53.00.
BULLOCKS: Choice
67.00-71.00, good 64.0069.00,
few standard 53.00-65.00.
'banks and factories, but
there’s something downright
un-American about them
owning our farmland.
The major farm
organizations, including foe
American Farm Bureau
Federation and foe National
Grange are pushing for an
investigation. They want to
know foe extent of foe
problem and then they want
something done about it
To give you some idea of
how unprepared our
government is to deal with
this problem, foe General
Accounting Office did a
study but its results were
inconclusive due to the
limited data on foreign
ownership currently
available. Congress held a
hearing on foe topic and was
told that public debate on
foreign ownership of
American farmland is
dominated by rumors and
sensational stories of
BULLS: Yield grade 1 and
2 1000-2000 lbs. 61.00-70.00
few to 73.00.
FEEDER CATTLE:
Steers choice and good
300-500 lbs. 63.00-75.00. Good
and choice heifers 300-600
lbs. 65.0086.00.
CALVES: Vealers steady
to $5 lower. Few prime
114.00- Choice
105.00- Good
85.00- Standard and
good 90-120 lbs. 85.00-100.00,
70-90 lbs. 75.00-94.00. Utility
60-100 lbs. 60.0080.00.
FARM CALVES: Holstein
bulls 90-120 lbs. 95.00-129.00.
Heifers 90-140 lbs.
40.00- few to 218.00.
HOGS: Barrows and gilts
$3 to |6 lower, steady decline
during the week. 1 and 2,
200-240 lbs. 43.5048.50,1 and
3 195-250 lbs. 41.0047.00, 2
and 3 190-270 lbs. 39.00-45.00,
1 and 3 150-185 lbs.
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wealthy foreigners gobbling
up U.S. farmland.
The Congressional sub
committee heard a Farm
Bureau spokesman say that
foreign investors remain
hidden in a maze of financial
devices, including trusts,
partnerships, and off-shore
corporations.
The General Accounting
Office (GAO) study found
that although 25 states have
legislation restricting alien
farmland ownership, it
doesn’t seem to work. The
agency said very little hard
data on foreign land
ownership now exists in
federal, state, or local
government agencies. A spot
check by GAO in 25 Counties
in five states did turn up
information indicating
foreigners owned almost
45,000 acres or .3 per cent of
the total farmland in those
counties. In one County in
Georgia, GAO found that
38.0045.00. Sows $3 to $5
lower. 1 and 3 300-550 lbs.
35.0042.00 few to 45.00.2 and
3 400-650 lbs. 32.00-38.00.
Boars 32.0040.00.
FEEDER PIGS: Weak to
$lO lower. 1-3 2035 lbs.
20.0035.00 per head; 1-335-50
lbs. 35.00-50.00 per head; few
1-3 5065 lbs. 50.0062.00 per
head. Graded feeder pigs:
6.0015.00 lower. 1-2, 25-40
lbs. 123.00137.00 few tc
145.00. 4050 lbs 112.00133.00,
5060 lbs. 94.00115.00. 6085
lbs. 71.00100.00.2-3 2540 lbs.
116.00- 4050 lbs.
92.00- 5070 lbs.
69.0088.00.
SHEEP: Spring slaughter
lambs $3-$9 higher. Choice
30-50 lbs. 100.00-130.00, 60-100
Ibr Tj. oo-93.00. Wooled
choice 85-120 lbs. 62.00-70.00,
Good-65-110 lbs. 54.00-62.00.
Slaughter ewes $22-$39 few
down to $l2.
*4200
*3900
-400
YOUR COST *3500
American farmland?
foreigners owned more than
six per cent of the farmland.
The agency did recom
mend to Congress that it
consider legislation
providing for a nationwide
registration system for
foreign landowners similar
to the alien registration
system now used by the
Immigration and
Naturalization Service. The
agency said this would place
the reporting burden on the
landowners and would
require relatively little in
volvement by state and local
governments.
Some action is already
under way as per directives
from the Congressional
subcommittee. GAO is
continuing its investigation
seeking out land transfer
data so reasonable
projections of extent of
foreign land ownership can
be made. Extension agents
in all 50 states have been
asked to report any
knowlege they have of
farmland purchase by
foreigners. The County ASCS
offices are reviewing their
records in an effort to
identify foreign land'
ownership. The Department
of Commerce has been asked
to supply any information it
has on the subject. And the
Congressional Research
Service of the Library of
Congress has been asked to
prepare an overview paper
discussing constitutional,
international treaty and
other legal questions that
would be involved in any
federal or state legislation
dealing with the purchase
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and ownership of U.S. far
mland by nonresident
foreign aliens.
No doubt as the American
dollar becomes worth less in
foreign markets, American
farmland will become a
better buy to many foreign
investors. Don’t count on an
immigration of foreign
farmers as was so common
in the early days of
American agriculture.
Those foreign buyers will
probably be big-time in
vestors who will merely own
farmland and make it
available to local fanners
through rental
arrangements or will hire
local management. Most
foreign investors are smart
enough to know they lack the
local knowledge so
necessary to a successful
farm business. They may
have lots of money but
they’re short on farming
experience. So they’ll hire
that experience or they’ll
make the land available to
farmers who already have
the experience.
To some local fanners
14 GREENFIELD ROAD
UNCASTER, PA 17602
foreign land ownership may
be a mixed blessing. For
instance, a large parcel of
land owned by a foreigner
could be available for rent,
allowing local farmers to
expand without buying land.
On the other hand, a foreign
neighbor may be no more
welcome in an agricultural
community than a corporate
neighbor. Traditional family
farmers have resisted those
big companies that oc
casionally want to buy large
farming spreads. They’ll
probably be no warmer to
foreign tycoons whose only
interest is making money.
Don’t be too surprised to
see national legislation and a
flurry of state activity aimed
at controlling foreign
ownership of farmland.
Pressure is mounting and
the answer is obvious-come
up with a system that first
measures the amount of
foreign land ownership that
already exists and second,
control it. Otherwise, we
could wake up some morning
to find the Arabs own our
farms.