What's the matter with Iowa? Republicans using 'foreign-owned land' complaints as a distraction for home-grown problems

Headline:  Des Moines Register, 4/182024/

Excerpts from Register article:

Some Iowans, Sexton included, believe the greater threat is big-money investors — from capital investment funds to tech billionaires, sports celebrities and churches — that are helping to drive Iowa farmland values to historic highs, further pushing ownership out of reach of Iowa farmers. 

“My farming buddies are mostly frustrated by big American corporations” and investors snapping up Iowa farmland, not foreign buyers, acknowledged Sexton, who raises sheep near Rockwell City.

 

State Rep. J.D. Scholten, a northwest Iowa Democrat, worries that farmland ownership is becoming consolidated, as have fertilizer manufacturing, meatpacking and other ag industries. 

Over a decade, the number of farms in Iowa with 2,000 or more acres has grown 42%, the 2022 U.S. Agriculture Census, released this year, shows. 

“It’s just a matter of time until we see corporations buying up Iowa farmland and pretty much making farmers serfs,” Scholten said. [emphasis added]