The House of Representatives passed the “Protecting U.S. Farmland from Foreign Adversaries Act” on Wednesday.
The legislation would increase scrutiny of foreign bids to purchase U.S. farmland, particularly from adversaries like China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran.
“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,” says Congressman Dan Newhouse (R-WA-04), who introduced the bill.
It would add the Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and include the secretary on future transactions involving agricultural land, biotech, product transportation, storage, and processing. It would authorize the Secretary to report agricultural land transactions involving foreign persons from China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran.
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Mike Braun (R-IN) introduced a companion bill in the Senate.
“Chinese ownership of American farmland increased more than 20-fold in the past decade,” Braun says. The amount of American soil in the hands of adversaries will only rise if we don’t implement these restrictions and oversight.”
Fourteen other senators also signed on to the legislation, including Indiana’s Todd Young.
CLICK HERE to read the full text of the House bill.
CLICK HERE to read the full text of the Senate bill.
