Harrison Pittman, Director at the National Agricultural Law Center, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, is a key thought leader at one of the country’s top entities that follows the intersection of agriculture and the law. In his more than two decades in that role, he has never witnessed the level of scrutiny on foreign farmland ownership that he is seeing now. “What we see going on right now,” Pittman told American Farmland Owner, “…it’s a historically significant shift in this area.”

This isn’t your grandparents’ farmland. Willis Sparks, Director Global Macro, Eurasia Group, reminds clients these days how increasingly connected the world is…how the geopolitical climate, wars and weather can impact a Kansas wheat producer, a Louisiana cotton grower, a sweet potato farmer in North Carolina, or someone who invests in the farmland that is connected to any of those people.

Esther George, Former President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, is not “Debbie Downer,” but she is also not yet convinced that the United States’ economy will smoothly find that “soft landing” that optimistic financial experts have predicted. However, the former president/CEO of the Federal Reserve in Kansas City is also not predicting doom and gloom in 2024.