How Much of Alabama is Owned by Foreigners?

".....nearly 30 million acres of U.S. farmland are held by foreign investors. That number has doubled in the past two decades, which is raising alarm bells in farming communities." (NPR story)

     Certainly the business-friendly and union-unfriendly atmosphere in Alabama, and the state's almost-lowest-in-the-U.S. property tax rate, make buying Alabama land attractive.

      Alabama has only two restrictions on foreign ownership of land:

10A-1-7:

• Requires the registration of foreign-owned businesses if they want to conduct business in the state
• Foreign corporations also must file a copy of their articles

Perhaps as a result, 5.4% of the state is foreign owned. That's 1,552,837 acres, among the largest percentages of foreign-owned agricultural land in the U.S. States:

The State of Maine is on top with 17.4%!
Hawaii 8.8%
Florida 5.6%
Alabama 5.4
Louisiana 5.1%

 Companies in Canada and the Netherlands own the most foreign owned land in Alabama. But there are 584 Companies outside the U.S. that own part of Alabama, including:

• Syrian Arab Republic---73 acres in Macon and Shelby Counties.

• Saudi Arabia --- 11 acres in three plots of Bullock County.

(The Saudis are known to buy U.S. land to grow hay to feed their cows, but 11 acres doesn't seem like much of an investment.)

Curious about what foreign companies own land near you? 
Here's the report for 2016 from the USDA.