As the state’s legislative session is underway for 2024, one of Indiana’s state lawmakers has written and introduced a bill (HB 1183) that would prevent adversarial countries, such as Russia and China, from buying or leasing Indiana farmland beginning July 1.
“This is about food security, because we know food security is national security,” says State Rep. Kendell Culp, who serves in District 16 in northwestern Indiana. He’s also a farmer based in Jasper County and the only full-time farmer in the 2024 Indiana General Assembly.
The six countries that would be prohibited from buying or leasing farmland in Indiana not only includes Russia and China, but also North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and Venezuela.
“A lot of [land] purchases today are made by LLCs, shell companies, or a consortium of groups, so we’ve addressed that in the legislation,” says Culp. “[The purchaser] would have to sign an affidavit guaranteeing that ownership would not belong to one of those six adversarial countries. If we found out there was a concern, and then they in fact were not truthful, the Indiana Attorney General would be required to follow up with that and then they would be able to take that farmland from them and then resell that to someone who is eligible to farm it.”
Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) are among two lawmakers in Washington who introduced the Protecting America’s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act in 2023 to prohibit America’s foreign adversaries from purchasing or leasing U.S. farmland. Culp says his bill mirrors the federal bill.
“One of the things that that is happening is China will come over and form a shell company in Canada. Then that Canadian shell company will come to Montana, buy timber land, strip the timber, and export it back to China. So, we’ve addressed that so hopefully that doesn’t happen in this piece of legislation,” he says.
Culp adds that his bill does more than prevent those countries from buying or leasing Hoosier farmland.
“Also in this bill, we prohibit the purchase of water rights, mineral rights, and riparian rights from those six adversarial countries,” according to Culp. “As we talk a lot about water now in this country, it’s really important that we secure our water supply as well.”
Culp’s bill is also co-sponsored by State Representatives Mike Aylesworth (R- 11th District) and Chris Jeter (R-88th District).
The bill has been assigned to the Indiana House Agriculture Committee and is set for a hearing on Monday, Jan. 29.
