Dive Brief:
- Congress is pushing to scrutinize foreign ownership of U.S. farmland and food companies, as lawmakers express mounting national security concerns over investments from companies in China.
- A pair of bills introduced over the past two weeks would enhance oversight of foreign investment. One strengthens penalties for foreign investors who fail to report holdings in U.S. farmland, while the other gives agriculture officials representation on the federal review board for foreign transactions.
- The bipartisan measures, introduced by Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, follow a high-profile acquisition by a Chinese food manufacturer earlier this year that was halted for national security concerns.
Dive Insight:
Lawmakers say foreign ownership of U.S. farmland poses a threat to food security, and states in recent months have moved to restrict China and other foreign adversaries from investing in agriculture.
Foreign ownership of U.S. farmland became a prominent issue earlier this year, after the U.S. Air Force said a Chinese company's plans to build a corn milling plant near a military base in Grand Forks, North Dakota, represented a security threat.
China makes up a small fraction of U.S. farmland, with most foreign agriculture investments coming from countries like Canada and the Netherlands. China accounted for 383,935 acres, or 0.9%, of total foreign-owned U.S. agricultural land, in 2021.
Approximately 21 states forbid or limit foreign businesses from acquiring or holding an interest in private agricultural land, according to the National Agricultural Law Center. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law in May that restricts agricultural purchases made by certain foreign nationals of China, Russia and other countries considered adversaries.
Grassley's bills have bipartisan support, with Senate Agriculture Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow co-sponsoring the measure, giving agriculture officials access to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
“Food security is national security," Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, said in a statement. "There is nothing more basic to our nation’s independence, safety and security than protecting our food supply from foreign ownership."
Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of 28 lawmakers sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, expressing concerns the agency did not assess any penalties between 2015 and 2018 on foreign companies who failed to report acquisitions of U.S. agricultural land.
