AFIDA data guide · FY2024 source context
What Is AFIDA?
AFIDA stands for the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978. It establishes a federal reporting system for foreign interests in U.S. agricultural land. AFIDA Watch helps readers explore the resulting records; it is an independent research tool, not a USDA website or filing portal.
What does the reporting system cover?
The reporting system covers qualifying foreign persons’ interests in U.S. agricultural land. Depending on the applicable rules and circumstances, a reported interest can involve ownership, certain leases or an indirect interest. Agricultural land is broader than food crops: farming, ranching, forestry and timber interests can appear in the records.
For filing obligations, definitions and procedures, use USDA’s current AFIDA program page and the implementing regulations. Check current rules and any effective amendments rather than treating a research summary as filing advice.
What can I find on AFIDA Watch?
The free map explores reported agricultural-land interests by state, county, country/source code and source Owner ID. Public state and county pages provide readable summaries and source links. Source-linked research examines selected findings in more detail. Paid County Citizen Reports and the companion book use a separate protected delivery workflow.
Which source year am I seeing?
The public summaries in this release use the USDA AFIDA FY2024 working snapshot: 49,548 source records. FY2024 is the dataset label, not a claim that ownership has been verified today. A page-update date describes when the page was prepared, not the date of every reported transaction.
USDA publishes annual reports, detailed data, field keys and country codes. Its data notice explains that errors and later corrections can affect interpretation. The pinned working snapshot may differ from later revisions or official aggregate tables.
How should I read the numbers?
- Reported acres: the acreage sum across the included source records. This is not a measurement of agricultural land taken out of production.
- Source records: rows in the working snapshot. Multiple rows can relate to the same reported holder or parcel.
- Owner IDs: distinct reported identifiers within the displayed geography and snapshot. They are not a verified beneficial-ownership register.
- Parcel IDs: distinct source identifiers, not a survey or exact boundary map.
- Country/source codes: reported classifications, including unknown and no-predominant-country categories. A country code alone does not establish government ownership or control.
What do the records not prove?
They do not by themselves establish current title, a violation, a national-security threat, foreign-government control, tax relief, or food-production loss. County shapes and map highlights provide geographic context, not exact property boundaries. Missing records do not prove that no reportable interest exists.
Where do I file an AFIDA disclosure?
AFIDA Watch does not accept official disclosures. Use USDA’s filing instructions and official portal links. Do not submit private filing documents through this public research map.
Explore the evidence
Michigan data · Tennessee data · Hidalgo, Texas preview · Source-linked research articles