Capitol News

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In an effort to prioritize national security, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-07) is co-leading legislation to strengthen American food security by closely scrutinizing farmland purchases by foreign adversaries. 

The Foreign Agricultural Restrictions to Maintain Local Agriculture and National Defense (FARMLAND) Act would strengthen U.S. review processes and increase oversight of farmland purchases by foreign nations. The legislation is co-led by Rep. Randy Feenstra (IA-04), and its Senate companion is led by Sens. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Joni Ernst (R-IA). 

“Food security is national security, which means we cannot allow strategic competitors like China to gain control of the agricultural land that feeds us,” said Slotkin. “This legislation will help ensure our agricultural land does not come under the control of the Chinese Communist Party or other bad actors who might seek to use that control against us. I’m grateful for the leadership of Chairwoman Stabenow and Sen. Ernst on this bill in the Senate and hope to see this legislation as part of the 2023 Farm Bill.”

“For far too long, our government has not administered the laws on the books to protect American farmland from acquisition by our foreign adversaries. If we fail to actively monitor foreign purchases of our farmland, we jeopardize our national, economic, energy, and food security. As a strong advocate for stopping our adversaries – like China – from buying our farmland, I am proud to introduce the FARMLAND Act, which will develop new oversight measures for foreign farmland purchases, require the Secretary of Agriculture to report the threats of foreign acquisition of American farmland to Congress, and punish foreign investors who fail to disclose farmland purchases,” said Feenstra. “With almost 50% of farmland expected to change hands in the next two decades, it is vital that we monitor and track any foreign entity buying large amounts of our farmland. Born and raised in rural Iowa, I firmly believe that American farmland belongs to American farmers, and I will continue to lead the fight to protect our farmers and rural communities.”

The FARMLAND Act amends the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) to increase oversight by:

reviewing a purchase or lease by a foreign entity that exceeds $5 million or 320 acres of land over the last three years;

updating the authority of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to better consider agriculture when making determinations affecting national security by

including the Secretary of Agriculture and Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration on the committee;

giving Congress more oversight of foreign purchases and management of U.S. agricultural land with respect to national security; and developing a publicly available database of agricultural land owned by foreign persons; among others. 

The AFIDA was passed in 1978 to record all foreign ownership of U.S. farmland.

Over the past decade, foreign ownership of U.S. farmland and investment in U.S. agriculture has nearly doubled, raising concerns over foreign influence over the U.S. food supply. Reports of purchases by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of farmland near U.S. military installations have also prompted calls for greater scrutiny of foreign agriculture investment.

Original source can be found here.