Central South Dakota News

Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) have urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to modernize its process for electronic submission and retention of Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) disclosures. In a letter sent this week, the senators highlighted alleged inaccuracies in information publicly posted by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) and the issues that arise from such inaccuracies.

Currently, these disclosures are completed manually on physical paper. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 mandated the establishment of a streamlined process for electronic submission and retention of AFIDA disclosures, including an internet database.

“The current practice of manual data entry, including the re-typing of paper-filed reports into FSA systems, can lead to the publication of problematic and inaccurate information,” wrote the senators. “We’re told there have been instances where energy developers have been incorrectly identified as having ownership interests from sanctioned nations when in reality the investment originates from U.S. allies. If true, such errors not only create confusion but also undermine the credibility of the data published by the FSA.”

Rounds, Ernst, and Fetterman were joined on the letter by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), James Risch (R-Idaho), and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

Read the full letter here.