Lawyers
National Security Practice Group Chair John Carlin spoke extensively with Law360 Real Estate Authority about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plans to step up scrutiny of farmland purchased by foreign investors. In the article, “US Gov't Has Eyes On Farmland, Paul Weiss Atty Says,” published on July 23, John notes that the government’s key concerns around foreign-owned U.S. farmland are focused on location—how close the land is to a military installation, for instance—and on food security. The USDA’s plan “sends a strong signal that the U.S. government is going to be focused on identifying and, where appropriate, prohibiting or unwinding foreign ownership of farmland, particularly when it's a country of concern,” John says.
Real estate attorneys who may have not previously needed to consider national security concerns relating to farmland should be aware that diligence is more important than ever. “We should expect there's going to be a lot of vigilance or scrutiny about where the location is of the property, what the technology is that's associated with the sale, and where you are in the food supply chain,” he says. “That means you need as a practitioner in this space to do diligence in this area and spot those risks.”
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