Lawmakers push to ban China from buying U.S. farmland

While the measure aims to address security and espionage concerns, Tuberville also pointed to the need to ensure domestic control of American food production.

By Ben Whedon

Published: March 23, 2023 4:18pm

A group of U.S. Senators introduced a bill this week to ban U.S. adversaries from purchasing U.S. farmland amid mounting fears of espionage.

The "Protecting America's Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act" would specifically bar the sale of agricultural land to individuals or groups linked to Iran, North Korea, China, or Russia, according to a press release from Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville.

Alongside the Alabama lawmaker, Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind.; John Tester, D-Mont.; and Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; joined together in sponsoring the measure.

While the measure aims to address security and espionage concerns, Tuberville also pointed to the need to ensure domestic control of American food production, asserting that "[t]he surge of foreign-owned agricultural land in the U.S. demonstrates the need to keep our top foreign adversaries out of our agricultural supply chains."

"We must increase federal oversight of foreign investments in agricultural land, especially from Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran," he continued. "Our food and national security must be prioritized and protected from bad actors."

While the bill encompasses multiple hostile regimes, China has drawn flak for the practice of purchasing U.S. land more than the others. Of particular concern was the recent purchase of land by an American subsidiary of Chinese company Fufeng Group near Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota.

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis sounded the alarm on the matter in November and additionally highlighted a Chinese military-aligned firm's purchase of 1,400 acres in Levy County, Fla.

The bipartisan group's bill comes amid mounting fears of Chinese espionage, including potentially through social media platform TikTok. It also follows a recent incident in which a suspected Chinese spy balloon voyaged over the United States for several days before the Biden administration ordered that it be shot down off the coast of the Carolinas.

Biden suffered intense criticism from detractors for permitting the balloon to traverse the nation prior to shooting it down, with some lawmakers labeling the affair an "embarrassment."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.