Chapters 765 and 796 of the 2023 Acts of Assembly established the Foreign Entities and Property Ownership Law (Va. Code § 55.1-507 et seq.) (Law), which, in part, requires the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), on or before July 1 of each year, to publish a report regarding foreign ownership of agricultural land within the Commonwealth.

As of December 31, 2024, Virginia has a total land area of 25,340,160 acres, 18,789,439 of which are privately-held agricultural land. Of the 18,789,439 acres of privately-held agricultural land, 283,490 acres are foreign-held agricultural land consisting of 661 parcels across 83 Virginia localities. These foreign holdings comprise only 1.5 percent of all privately-held agricultural land in Virginia in 2024. This is a 4.8 percent increase in the total acreage of foreign-held agricultural land compared to December 31, 2023.

Notably, dispositions of both agricultural and non-agricultural foreign-owned landholdings in Virginia in both 2023 (20,384 acres) and 2022 (18,976 acres) far outpaced those in any of the past 10 years. Before 2022, annual dispositions did not exceed 6,920 acres in any year and were often negligible or zero. However, that trend reversed again in 2024 with acquisitions of land remaining steady while dispositions decreased significantly (4,486 acres). In 2024, forestland holdings increased by 9,367 acres (5 percent), continuing a multi-year trend of strong foreign interest in timberland. Forestland remains the largest category of foreign-owned agricultural land in Virginia. Foreign ownership of all other types of agricultural land increased by a moderate amount in comparison.

The following are the acres of agricultural land and non-agricultural land in Virginia owned by foreign investors as categorized by USDA’s Report 2 – U.S. Agricultural and NonAgricultural Landholdings (Acres) by Country of Foreign Investor and by State and County as of December 31, 2024: Canada (62,590), Germany, (44,768), United Kingdom (36,339), Netherlands (9,523), Italy (2,253), and All Others (138,331). Of the 138,331 acres categorized under “All Others," 4,654 acres are landholdings owned by Chinese investors, representing approximately 3.4 percent of the agricultural and nonagricultural land attributed to this category and 1.6 percent of the total foreign owned agricultural and non-agricultural land in Virginia. 194,945 acres of land in Virginia owned by foreign investors are used as forestland, 45,027 as cropland, 26,382 as pasture, 17,136 as other agricultural land, and 5,654 as non-agricultural land.

VDACS is not aware of any information regarding the extent of or any recent changes in foreign ownership of energy production, storage, or distribution facilities in the Commonwealth.

VDACS does not recommend any legislative, regulatory, or administrative policy changes in light of the information in this report.