WASHINGTON — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem told the U.S. House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday to be vigilant about Chinese ownership of farmland in the U.S.
Noem appeared at the hearing about foreign entities – specifically those from China – buying farmland as concerns have grown in Congress and in dozens of state capitals about China’s growing influence and the country’s investment in U.S. agricultural land.
“Over the years, I have witnessed this hostile communist country work to systematically take over more of America’s vital food supply chain,” said Noem, a Republican who has
strict restrictions on select foreign entities buying farmland in her state.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, introduced Noem to the committee.
Erik Kaufman / Mitchell Republic
“China is our biggest adversary. Governor Noem has been active in stopping the threat of the Chinese Communist Party in South Dakota,” Johnson said later in a news release. “I’m proud to welcome Governor Noem back to the House Ag Committee to share her perspective on how the state and federal government can work together to protect the U.S. from the CCP.”
Support for limiting foreign entities’ and individuals’ access to U.S. agricultural land
has grown in Congress in recent years,
with a focus on China in the wake last year of a Chinese spy balloon that flew over the U.S.
The issue is part of a larger congressional focus on China. The
House voted last week to ban TikTok
unless the company splits from its Chinese owner, ByteDance.
“These last few years have seen China steal U.S. intellectual property, hack critical cybersecurity and related infrastructure, weaponize agricultural trade, and acquire American farmland at an alarming rate,” committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson, Republican of Pennsylvania, said in his opening statement. “Each of these disrupt our national security, our rural communities and our resiliency.”
Even though China owns little farmland in the U.S
., it’s an issue that has raised bipartisan concern.
The Senate last year added an amendment
in an annual defense measure to curb farmland purchases by China, Iran, North Korea and Russia.
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. David Scott of Georgia, said Wednesday he was concerned about some of the rhetoric toward China, and urged committee members to focus on policy.
“Some of the rhetoric surrounding this topic may derail us from tackling the real issues at hand and may contribute to violence against Asian Americans,” Scott said in his opening statement.
No endorsement on Trump tariff proposal
Scott also pointed out that China is an important trading partner with the U.S.
Scott asked Noem her opinion on the proposal from former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee in the presidential election, to levy a 60% tariff on imports from China. Scott said that farmers would be the ones to “face the potential consequences.”
Scott Olson / Getty Images
Noem did not say whether she agreed with that proposal, but said “that is a proposal that people are still looking at and having conversations about.”
with Trump last weekend in Ohio, and is considered a potential running mate for the former president.
Trump floated the 60% tariffs proposal in
last month.
Scott asked her how much land China has purchased in South Dakota.
Noem said that she is unsure if China owns farmland in her state – in part due to a lack of reporting.
According to federal records,
there is no Chinese-owned ag land in South Dakota
, but there is a Chinese-owned meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls.
Noem in early March signed into law a bill the South Dakota Legislature passed that
for agriculture purposes from China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Russia and Venezuela.
U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows about one-third of foreign-controlled agricultural land in South Dakota was acquired by Canada. A majority of the rest of land acquisitions are from the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany. The rest, which totals less than 4,000 acres, is held by people or entities from the Bahamas, Mexico and Saudi Arabia.
Canada largest foreign investor
As of 2022, Chinese entities and individuals owned about 349,000 acres of U.S. agricultural land, which is less than 1% of all U.S. agriculture land held by foreign persons,
according to the most recent USDA data
.
The states with the largest Chinese holdings are Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Utah and Virginia, which represent about 85% of all Chinese holdings in the U.S., according to USDA.
“Canadian investors own the largest amount of reported foreign-held agricultural and non-agricultural land, with 32%, or 14.2 million acres,”
A recent Government Accountability Office report
found that the U.S. government might have difficulties tracking transactions from foreign entities because “the records for these transactions, such as land deeds, are usually kept at county tax and recorder offices across the country and are not maintained in a single database.”
Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan said that it’s important to make distinctions when it comes to foreign entities making major purchases in the U.S. She said in her state, the
biggest foreign land purchasers
are Canada and the Netherlands.
“I’m not real stressed about the Canadians buying land in the state of Michigan,” she said.
Slotkin said that Congress should not just think about foreign transactions when it comes to farmland but to other infrastructure sites such as manufacturing.
“If you have a company coming in to do a huge purchase of our infrastructure like hog slaughter, you should be putting that through that same intelligence community process to help us understand if that’s a strategic threat to us,” she said.
There is no federal law that restricts foreign investors from acquiring agricultural land,
Those states include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.
GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, who chairs the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said that he believes the agriculture sector is China’s next target.
“The CCP’s acquisition of land in the United States, its investments in U.S. agricultural technology, and its collection of U.S. farm data and trade secrets represent offensive maneuvers designed to degrade U.S. preparedness and competitiveness,” he said.
National security and economic concerns
Republican Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma asked the second panel of witnesses how to balance between national security concerns and still allowing for international investment in the U.S. economy.
The second panel of witnesses included Josh Gackle, the president of the American Soybean Association, Nova J. Daly, a senior public policy analyst in trade at the law firm Wiley Rein, and Kip Tom, a former ambassador to the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
“One of the greatest strengths we have as a country is the investment we get from abroad,” Daly said. “The great balance, I think, is to continue with our open investment policy but be incredibly smart in how we apply our national security apparatus.”
Gackle, of Kulm, North Dakota, said that foreign ownership of land is also a concern for growers.
“It’s not just China, it’s other, out-of-state and foreign owners that could potentially drive up the cost of land and the cost of producing for a farmer in North Dakota,” he said.
Tom, of Leesburg, Indiana, said based on his travel as an ambassador, he’s seen China heavily invest in Africa and Central America.
“I think we have to be extremely careful where they do invest,” he said.
— The staff of South Dakota Searchlight contributed to this report.
