Farm Service Agency December 18, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is requesting information on proposed revisions to the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act Report (FSA-153 form). The FSA-153 requires updating. Specifically, the FSA-153 form needs clarification and updating to ensure that foreign owners (or long-term lessees) who are required to file the FSA- 153 form have clear instructions and that USDA is collecting the most precise and meaningful data, so that the report to Congress is as accurate and insightful as possible. Foreign owners are investors who buy, sell, or hold a direct or indirect interest in U.S. agricultural land (or who hold long-term leases on agricultural land) and must report their holdings and transactions to USDA on the FSA-153 form. USDA uses the information on the submitted forms to generate the report that it submits to Congress. FSA is moving towards modernizing the collection of information process, clarifying and modernizing the FSA- 153 form, and if funding becomes available, creating an electronic submission system that will allow foreign owners to report by filing electronically. In addition, this document requests public input for our plan to revise not only the information request, but ultimately, the regulation (which will likely result in further modifications at a later date to the FSA-153 form).