Initiative 300 is gone, and what replaced it
Nebraska voters adopted Initiative 300 in 1982, writing into Article XII of the state constitution a prohibition on corporations and non-family limited partnerships acquiring farm or ranch land or engaging in farming. It did not survive federal review. In Jones v. Gale, 470 F.3d 1261, the Eighth Circuit held in 2006 that the measure discriminated against interstate commerce and violated the dormant Commerce Clause, affirming the district court; the Supreme Court declined review in 2007. Nebraska has had no enforceable corporate farming restriction since. An LLC, a trust or a corporation may hold Nebraska farmland; the live question is now the buyer's nationality, not its legal form.
The foreign ownership act is broadly drafted
The Foreign-Owned Real Estate National Security Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. 76-3701 to 76-3717, took effect January 1, 2025. Section 76-3703 bars a nonresident alien or foreign corporation from purchasing, acquiring title to or taking any Nebraska real estate, or any leasehold interest running more than five years, with a narrow carve-out tied to the CFIUS excepted foreign state list and divestment ordered under section 76-3712. Practitioners have flagged that the definitions reach wider than the title suggests: nonresident alien is written by reference to persons who are not citizens, nationals or lawful permanent residents, which can sweep in ordinary American entities. Confirm how your buyer is organized.
Natural resources districts tax and regulate the water
Nebraska is divided into 23 natural resources districts. LB 1357, enacted in 1969, folded 154 special-purpose entities into 24 districts that began operating July 1, 1972; a 1989 merger produced the current 23. Their boundaries follow river basins, their boards are locally elected, and they levy property tax. Under the Nebraska Ground Water Management and Protection Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. 46-739 lets a district adopt controls in a designated management area: allocating the groundwater a user may withdraw, rotation systems, well spacing tighter than the state standard, required flow meters, reductions in certified irrigated acres, limits on expanding them, and approval requirements for transfers. Certified acres, not deeded acres, decide what a pivot can water.
Assessment at 75 percent, and a deed limit
Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-201 values most real property in Nebraska at 100 percent of actual value but agricultural and horticultural land at 75 percent, and at 50 percent for school district bond taxes approved after January 1, 2022. The classification is not automatic: the county assessor decides whether a parcel is devoted to agricultural or horticultural use, and a change of use changes the number. The certificate route has a ceiling worth knowing. Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1837 permits a treasurer's tax deed only where 110 percent of assessed value, less the amount needed to redeem, is 25,000 dollars or less; above that the holder must foreclose the lien under section 77-1902.