Lawmakers Try Again to Ban Foreign Ownership of US Farmland for US Adversaries

Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran can be banned from proudly owning U.S. agricultural land underneath laws simply superior by a Home panel. It was the second strive for Home lawmakers after they failed final 12 months to get the Senate to conform to a ban on overseas possession of U.S. ag land for the important thing U.S. foes within the annual USDA spending invoice.

However this 12 months, Washington state Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) urged warfare and aggression may make a distinction.

“Given the horrific occasions in Ukraine by the hands of Russia and the Putin regime, as many members of this committee know, China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran will not be our allies,” stated Rep. Newhouse.

Present federal legislation imposes no restrictions on overseas farmland possession right here, requiring reporting solely, whereas simply six states impose bans that Rep. Newhouse says can get circumvented. He says the difficulty is simply too necessary to drop.

“That is about our nation’s nationwide safety, in guaranteeing that adversaries like China, like Russia, like North Korea, or Iran, don’t achieve a foothold on American soil,” says Rep. Newhouse.

USDA experiences China, Russia, and Iran accounted for a mixed 200,000 acres of foreign-owned ag land in 2019, or lower than seven-tenths of 1 %. China accounted for almost all of it.

“The Peoples’ Republic of China is just curious about reaping each doable profit from U.S. land with out giving again or contemplating our future, to maintain unbiased vitality and meals manufacturing,” stated Rep. Newhouse. “The U.S. can not grow to be depending on our adversaries for our home meals provide.”

However 60 % of China’s overseas possession got here from its buy of U.S. pork large Smithfield Meals. Meantime, allies Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, and Germany held the lions’ share of foreign-owned US ag land—simply over 35 million acres in 2019, or simply underneath three % of such privately-held land.

Supply: NAFB