South Dakota requires copies of federal farmland ownership reports

Prohibited entities cannot own South Dakota farmland or hold most leases or easements on it. These rules cover prohibited entities and, separately, foreign entities, governments, and people who own, lease, or hold easements on South Dakota farmland. A prohibited entity may lease up to 320 acres for agricultural research, or lease land for contract livestock feeding by a listed family farm or authorized farm corporation. Other foreign entities, governments, and people may own up to 160 acres, excluding land held as security for a debt, and may lease farmland or hold easements without an acreage limit. The rules do not apply when a treaty secures the foreign owner’s right to hold land.

People required to report farmland interests to the federal government must also send a copy of that report to the state agriculture department. The duty applies to anyone required to report under the federal Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act. The state copy is due within the same time period as the federal report. The state copy is due within the period allowed for the federal report.

The attorney general may impose a civil fine for failing to file the required state report. The penalty applies to a person who fails to file a required copy of a federal farmland report with the state. The fine cannot exceed 10 percent of the fair market value of the farmland interest when the penalty is assessed. Collected fines go to the state general fund.

The state may take farmland held in violation of the rules or end a prohibited entity’s unlawful lease or easement. These rules cover farmland owned in violation of the chapter and leases or easements held unlawfully by prohibited entities. For farmland inherited or received by will, a violating minority owner’s share may be forfeited, with an additional fine equal to that share’s fair market value. The attorney general must bring an enforcement action within three years after evidence of a violation is referred to the office. Other equitable owners must first be offered any fractional interest forfeited to the state at fair market value. The three-year period starts when evidence of a violation is referred to the attorney general.