Why So Many States Want to Ban China From Owning Farmland

The spy balloon noticed over Montana wasn’t the primary latest incident to spark fears about nationwide safety and espionage within the U.S. Only some years in the past, a Chinese language billionaire named Solar Guangxin planned to build a wind farm on a part of 140,000 acres his firm had amassed in southwest Texas, close to Laughlin Air Pressure Base. However after the proposed mission sparked nationwide consideration, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a legislation to cease the wind farm from being constructed. 

And simply final yr, a Chinese company bought 300 acres in North Dakota close to the Grand Forks Air Pressure Base, planning to construct a corn milling plant. The Grand Forks Metropolis Council voted to stop that project earlier this month.  

These two incidents, together with others, have targeted the eye of state legislators on overseas land possession, particularly massive tracts of farmland. At present, 14 states prohibit or restrict overseas possession of personal agricultural land, however that quantity may develop this time period. Based on knowledge from the Nationwide Agricultural Legislation Heart on the College of Arkansas, 9 of these states have new payments on the docket aimed toward increasing the prevailing legal guidelines to restrict or prohibit overseas possession of agricultural land, a designation that may embody cropland, livestock pastures and timberland. And an extra 15 states with minimal laws or none in any respect are contemplating new payments on the matter. Many of those payments are designed to forestall overseas governments, firms and, in some instances, nonresident residents of different international locations from proudly owning agricultural land.

It’s the most recent political flashpoint in an extended historical past of considerations over overseas possession of United States farmland, stated Micah Brown, the workers lawyer for the Nationwide Agricultural Legislation Heart. The fears go way back to the Revolutionary Conflict, and though the explanations have modified all through historical past, nationwide safety is the first concern right this moment, Brown stated. Legislators selling such payments have framed them as essential to guard the protection of the U.S. meals provide, forestall shortages and hold land accessible and inexpensive for younger American farmers. However it’s not clear that legal guidelines banning overseas land possession would resolve these issues. 

In 1978, Congress handed the Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, pushed by considerations over American households leaving farms and the safety of the U.S. meals provide, according to The New York Times. The legislation required that overseas possession of farmland be reported to america Division of Agriculture, and the primary report, in 1980, discovered that lower than half of 1 p.c of farmland was owned by overseas buyers or entities.

Now, overseas buyers hold just 3.1 percent of all privately owned agricultural land in america, in keeping with the newest USDA report, which covers by way of the tip of 2021. The numbers range by state, however total, buyers from Canada personal essentially the most, and foreign-owned land was most frequently timber or forest. 

Whereas lots of the states contemplating a ban on overseas possession don’t point out particular international locations of their payments, it’s clear that some are concentrating on China. “Right here in New Jersey, we should always study from what’s occurring in different states and cease the Chinese language Communist Occasion (CCP) from establishing strategic management over sprawling tracts of our farmland,” state Sen. Doug Steinhardt, who introduced a bill there this yr, wrote in an editorial at NJ.com. Most of these payments started surfacing up to now two years, on the heels of anti-China rhetoric throughout President Donald Trump’s administration, and anxiousness in regards to the relationship between the U.S. and China extra broadly. Certainly, Trump has stated that if he turns into president once more, he’ll ban Chinese language residents from proudly owning farmland outright, according to reporting from The New York Post. 

Nevertheless, some have argued that the deal with China is extra about anti-Asian sentiment than real considerations, and will result in authorized immigrants being prevented from shopping for farmland. “Texas prides itself on sacrifice, laborious work, alternative and financial progress,” Jon Taylor, a political scientist on the College of Texas at San Antonio, wrote within the San Antonio Express-News. “How are these values served by denying land or property possession to immigrants and their households from China, Iran, North Korea or Russia?”

And regardless of considerations about Chinese language residents shopping for land close to navy bases, Chinese language buyers personal lower than 1 p.c of foreign-owned acreage nationwide. The overall share of acreage owned by overseas buyers and entities has been growing rapidly over the past few decades, however the total numbers stay small. 

Even some lawmakers’ considerations in regards to the impact of overseas land possession on the meals provide would not going be addressed by the form of payments presently being launched, stated Tomotaroh Granzier-Nakajima, an vitality and atmosphere coverage fellow at MOST Coverage Initiative, in Missouri. That’s as a result of provide is much less a problem of who grows meals than certainly one of who consumes it. “There are not any restrictions on this invoice that greatest stipulate the place agricultural merchandise will be offered,” he stated of a invoice advancing by way of the Missouri Home. “So a domestically owned enterprise that’s producing meals may promote wherever.”

Different points have targeted consideration on possession of farmland, although. Beneath present legislation, the USDA requires reporting of foreign ownership, with a civil penalty for a failure to reveal. However a 2017 review by Investigate Midwest discovered holes within the knowledge and lax enforcement. Final yr, 130 lawmakers asked the Government Accountability Office for a evaluation. Moreover, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Tammy Baldwin have lately cosponsored laws to require more information to be collected. And Grassley elaborated on his worries about farmland possession in a statement posted to his website in January. “Younger and starting farmers right here at residence shouldn’t be squeezed out or compete with overseas buyers backed by the American taxpayer, particularly these backed by unfriendly regimes, such because the Communist Occasion of China,” he wrote. (In some instances, overseas house owners may be eligible for USDA subsidies or applications.) 

A 2022 report by the Nationwide Younger Farmers Coalition discovered a majority of surveyed farmers ages 40 and below struggled to search out inexpensive land. However the USDA has discovered overseas funding has no consistent, significant effect on the costs of farmland, though they are saying extra analysis is required.

Household farms within the U.S. have been dwindling for decades, struggling to maintain up as agriculture became a global industry. Rural Individuals right this moment are much more likely to be employed in schooling, well being care or the service and retail sector than in agriculture, forestry, fishing, searching and mining, which, collectively, make use of solely about 1 in 10 staff in rural counties. A robust majority of Individuals holds farmers in high regard, however despite some younger Americans entering the profession lately, a necessity for young farmers stays.

Whether or not these new legal guidelines about overseas land possession can be constitutional is unsettled, stated Brown. However even when they’re, it’s not clear they might forestall safety threats or assist farmers within the methods lawmakers are promising.