US to bar Chinese, other rivals from buying farmland, citing national and food security
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "US to bar Chinese, other rivals from buying farmland, citing national and food security")
Representative image Photograph: (Reuters)
Rollins also announced plans to increase oversight of existing farmland owned by entities from countries like China, Russia, and Iran. According to the USDA data, Chinese investors currently own 265,000 acres of US land, about half of which is tied to a single company—Smithfield Foods.
The Trump administration is seeking to ban the sale of farmland anywhere in the United States to Chinese buyers and other foreign adversaries, said top officials. US Department of Agriculture chief Brooke Rollins announced on Tuesday that the US government will take measures to ban the sale of farmland nationwide to Chinese buyers and other foreign adversaries, citing threats to national security and food security.
In a joint news conference with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, Rollins said the administration would work with state partners and pursue executive actions to halt the purchases.
She also announced plans to increase oversight of existing farmland owned by entities from countries like China, Russia, and Iran.
According to USDA data, Chinese investors currently own 265,000 acres of US land, about half of which is tied to a single company—Smithfield Foods, which was acquired in 2013 by WH Group, a Chinese conglomerate led by tycoon Wan Long.
The Chinese ownership of farmland in the US has dropped sharply in recent years, declining from 384,000 acres in 2021.
‘Foreign adversaries can no longer assume we’re not watching’
“No longer can foreign adversaries assume we’re not watching,” Hegseth said on Tuesday. He added that the Pentagon would move to bar sales of farmland to foreign adversaries near military bases and said the effort would help secure the US food supply for soldiers, “especially in a contingency.”
Trending Stories
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
Lawmakers have stepped up scrutiny of farmland acquisitions by Chinese entities after a controversial land deal in North Dakota. In 2022, Chinese-owned Fufeng Group purchased 370 acres for a corn milling facility roughly 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base. Local officials ultimately blocked the project, citing national security concerns.
The case brought into focus the existing loopholes in the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) regulations that allowed Chinese-owned firms to purchase land near military installations that have not been officially classified as sensitive locations.
