---
kind: "section"
citation: "7 U.S.C. § 4208"
title: "7"
title_heading: "Agriculture"
number: "4208"
heading: "Limitations"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/7/4208"
units:
  - "Chapter 73 — Farmland Protection Policy"
---

# §4208. Limitations

- (a) This chapter does not authorize the Federal Government in any way to regulate the use of private or non-Federal land, or in any way affect the property rights of owners of such land.
- (b) None of the provisions or other requirements of this chapter shall apply to the acquisition or use of farmland for national defense purposes during a national emergency.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 97–98, title XV, § 1547, Dec. 22, 1981, 95 Stat. 1344; Pub. L. 101–624, title XXV, § 2502, Nov. 28, 1990, 104 Stat. 4066.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1990—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 101–624 inserted before period at end “during a national emergency”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Section effective six months after Dec. 22, 1981, see section 1549 of Pub. L. 97–98, set out as a note under section 4201 of this title.