Republican lawmakers are circulating a bill that would prohibit foreign adversaries from acquiring ag or forestry land in Wisconsin.

Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, along with Reps. William Penterman, R-Hustisford, and Elijah Behnke, R-Town of Chase, recently sent a co-sponsorship memo to other lawmakers seeking support for the legislation. 

They point to bipartisan concerns around the issue of foreign ownership of U.S. farmland, noting it has “nearly doubled” over the past decade. In Wisconsin alone, foreign agricultural interests now own more than 500,000 acres of land in the state, according to the memo, which notes that figure has been increasing by tens of thousands of acres every year.  

Under current state law, foreign companies or individuals are barred from owning more than 640 acres of agricultural or forestry land, the memo shows. 

But the lawmakers say they’re particularly concerned around land acquisitions by foreign interests “that have repeatedly demonstrated hostility toward our country,” threatened supply chain disruption and military espionage, violated human rights, breached intellectual property and more. 

Plus, foreign land ownership restrictions currently don’t distinguish between countries whose governments are “friendly or adversarial” with the United States, authors note. 

“Recent economic disruptions and skyrocketing inflation clearly demonstrate the need to localize supply chains, especially for food and medicine, and to eliminate our reliance on entities based in — and scheming with — countries with hostile governments,” the lawmakers wrote. 

Their bill would hinge on determinations made by the federal secretary of Commerce about which entities are deemed foreign adversaries, the memo shows, covering both foreign governments or a nongovernment person “that has demonstrated a long-term pattern of conduct harmful to the national security of the United States and its people.” 

The lawmakers point to a similar state law enacted in Virginia in 2023, which banned such land acquisitions by foreign adversaries, specifically naming China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. 

The co-sponsorship deadline is 5 p.m. Wednesday. 

See the memo