California Senate Bill Would Force ‘Adversarial’ Foreign Entities to Divest Farmland Within 90 Days

By Sam Barron | Wednesday, February 18, 2026, 7:40 PM EST

Republican California State Senator Steven Choi introduced Senate Bill 1176, which would prohibit adversarial foreign actors from purchasing, acquiring, leasing, or holding a controlling interest in California agricultural land.

The legislation targets businesses and governments from countries designated as nonmarket economies under U.S. federal law or identified as national security threats in the most recent Annual Threat Assessment by the Director of National Intelligence.

Countries currently on this list include Angola, Laos, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. Under SB 1176, these entities would be barred from owning California farmland and required to divest within 90 days, subject to judicial review.

A recent U.S. Department of Agriculture study found foreign ownership spans over 46 million acres of U.S. agricultural land in 2024, including approximately 1.357 million acres in California. More than 18% of these holdings are from countries classified as national security threats.

“In an era of rising geopolitical tension, California must act to protect its agricultural land and critical infrastructure from adversarial control,” Choi stated. “This bill ensures that our farmland remains under the control of the United States and its allies.”

The measure builds on a similar 2022 Senate proposal, Senate Bill 1084—the Food and Farm Security Act—which aimed to ban all foreign ownership of California agricultural land but was vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom.