East Idaho Times

U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Jim Risch (R-Idaho) have joined a bipartisan group of colleagues in urging 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 their letter, the Senators highlighted alleged inaccuracies in information publicly posted by the Farm Service Agency (FSA), emphasizing the issues that arise from incorrect data.

“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,” the Senators wrote. “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.”

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

Crapo and Risch were joined by Senators John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania), Jodi Ernst (R-Iowa), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), Mike Braun (R-Indiana), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Deb Fischer (R-Nebraska), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska), Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) in sending the letter.

Read the full letter here.