The Missouri Senate has passed a bill with amended language from the House to prohibit further foreign ownership of Missouri land, according to the Missouri Independent that republished the original article from the Columbia Tribune.
The Senate amended a bill from the House to add an emergency clause and expand the definition of what is included as a foreign business. The bill also requires a 30-day notice to the Department of Agriculture in cases of transfers involving land that is already owned by a foreign entity. Current law limits foreign ownership of Missouri land to 1% of the total acreage.
“This has never been about putting people out of business or being anti-foreign … this is about making sure that we have security over our own food production,” said state Sen. Tracey McCreery, an Olivette Democrat. “This is about making sure that our constituents have what they need to sustain life.”
The measure was passed on a 31-to-3 vote and then moves back to the House, which can pass it as is and send it to the governor or request a conference committee to work out differences between the two chambers. The story in its entirety appears at https://missouriindependent.com/.
