Through an amendment to the Agriculture and Rural Development Appropriations bill, adopted last week by a vote of 34-26, U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) proposed a requirement for the Secretary of Agriculture to prohibit purchase of agricultural land by specific entities.
“Increased ownership of U.S. farmland by countries who are not our allies is an alarmingly growing trend that poses a risk to our national and economic security,” Newhouse said. “For example, according to the USDA, the Chinese Communist Party currently owns over 380,000 acres of farmland in the United States, which is worth about $2 billion. But even more shocking than that is the trend: the CCP has increased their purchases by a factor of 10 over the last decade. This poses an immediate threat to U.S. national security and food security.”
Although the legality of similar efforts at the state level have been called into question, Newhouse sought to ban foreign adversaries from purchasing agricultural land. Specifically, these adversaries would include the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Russia, North Korea or Iran. Newhouse said the landowners and farmers in his district have expressed concern about the presence of those specific foreigners on what they deemed their land.
Therefore, the new bill would prohibit purchase of U.S. agricultural land by any non-resident aliens, foreign businesses or any agent, trustee or fiduciary associated with either the CCP, Russia, North Korea or Iran. Newhouse similarly re-introduced the Prohibition of Agricultural Land for the People’s Republic of China Act earlier this year, to try and prohibit the purchase of public or private agricultural land by foreign nationals aligned with China.
Earlier this year, Newhouse also wrote to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack demanding action from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) over what he deemed failures to properly manage foreign acquisitions of U.S. agricultural land.