Mara Okafor
Tracks the money behind the dirt — foreign buyers, PE roll-ups, and the shell companies that hide them. Former property-records nerd, current FOIA obsessive.
Recent reporting
Schumer Pushes Bill to Break Up Meatpacking Monopoly
Sen. Schumer's Family Grocery and Farmer Relief Act targets the four companies that control 85% of beef and lock farmers into bad prices.
Disclosure Isn't Enough: The Push to Close the Farmland Loophole
Federal law requires foreign buyers to report ag land purchases — but doesn't block them. A wave of state bans tries to fill the gap, unevenly.
DOJ Opens Antitrust Probe of the Big Four Meatpackers
The Justice Department confirmed an antitrust probe of major beef processors in May, calling for whistleblowers as ranchers face persistent market consolidation.
AI Data Centers and Solar Farms Are Eating the Midwest's Best Land
As AI infrastructure investment surges, data centers and solar farms are competing with family farms for Midwest land — raising alarms from USDA to state legislatures.
Who Really Owns American Farmland? The Paper Trail Nobody Wants You to Follow
Foreign investors hold roughly 45 million acres of US farmland — and the federal database meant to track them is so broken even the GAO can't trust it.
The Feds Are Suing John Deere Over Your Right to Fix Your Own Tractor
The FTC and two states sued Deere over repair-restriction practices that force farmers to dealers. It's the biggest right-to-repair fight in ag — here's what's at stake.
Wall Street Discovered Dirt: How Private Equity Turned Farmland Into a Yield Play
Pension funds and PE firms now treat US farmland like a bond that grows corn. For young farmers trying to buy in, that math is a wall they can't climb.
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