Foreign ownership of U.S. farmland grew last year, according to a recent USDA report, but not for a key U.S. adversary.
Foreign entities bought nearly 3.5 million acres of U.S. farmland and forest in 2022, which is up more than eight percent to more than 43 million acres.
But China’s holdings fell a bit from 2021 to 350,000 acres, which is less than one percent of foreign-owned acres.
However, Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-WA-04) is concerned that China still owns too much farmland in the U.S.
“This is about our country’s national security, in ensuring that adversaries like China, like Russia, like North Korea or Iran do not gain a foothold on American soil,” said Newhouse.
Lawmakers point to land that China owns near sensitive U.S. military sites, especially in North Dakota. That’s a threat Pentagon Assistant Secretary Ely Ratner said the administration takes seriously.
“It supports efforts to prevent adversarial ownership of sensitive land, industry, and sectors, and biotechnology is one worth taking a careful look at,” said Ratner.
Newhouse has introduced legislation to broaden the U.S. Treasury Department’s control over foreign U.S. farmland ownership.
“The People’s Republic of China is only interested in reaping every possible benefit from U.S. land without giving back or considering our future to sustain an independent energy and food production. The U.S. cannot become dependent on our adversaries for our domestic food supply,” said Newhouse.
Senate legislation also requires USDA to have a permanent seat on the Treasury’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., or ‘CFIUS,’ which sponsors may try to include in a new farm bill. USDA plans to update how it collects data to study the impact of foreign land holdings on rural communities and the exact location of foreign-owned acres.
Source: NAFB News Service.