Is Foreign Farmland Ownership Putting The Future At Risk In The ‘Land Of The Free’?

How does a sale of 300 acres of farmland in the middle of nowhere suddenly become a geopolitical flash point between the world’s two superpowers?  

The answer is when such land is located just 20 minutes down the road from Grand Forks Air Force Base, which is home to some of the most sensitive U.S. drone technology. The base also houses a new space networking center designed to be the backbone of all U.S. military global communications.

A Name Makes Headlines
If the buyer had been just another farmer, then the news of the sale would not have made it past the local coffee shop. But this buyer was definitely not local. No, the buyer of the land was a Chinese company called the Fufeng Group. 

As political goodwill between the U.S and countries such as  China and Russia continues to unravel, many are starting to question whether our country’s agricultural assets should remain so accessible to outsiders. This growing concern has become a big enough red flag to make it to the top of even USDA’s flagpole. 

In December 2023, USDA started seeking feedback on how foreign investment in American agriculture is reported. The initiative, led by USDA’s Farm Service Agency, centers on enhancing the Agriculture Foreign Investment Disclosure Act report form. Members of the public may submit comments on the matter until Feb. 16, 2024. 

Although it is nice to see the federal government finally addressing such concerns, multiple individual states have already been doing something about it. Lawmakers in 36 states have proposed legislation to update restrictions regarding foreign ownership of U.S. farmland. About a dozen have already put new laws in place. 

Numbers Behind the Story
Currently, foreign ownership is about 3.1% of all privately held U.S. agricultural land, but it increased 50% during the past decade. According to USDA, Chinese interests account for less than 1% of the nation’s foreign-held agricultural acreage. But it’s because of China’s recent hyperaggressive military, political and economic actions that its ownership has become a growing cause of concern when it comes to such transactions. 

Reaction to any type of national security threat by politicians is expected. Patriotic posturing is almost always pure gold at the ballot box. What is rarer is when such posturing is backed up by actual action. Regardless of whether this issue develops into a watershed moment in the history of foreign relations or becomes an obscure footnote tucked somewhere on Wikipedia, Arkansas will be credited as the first to stand its ground in protecting U.S. agricultural assets from foreign interests. 

The First to Act
In October 2023, Arkansas officials took steps to force a Chinese government-owned agricultural company to divest 160 acres of Craighead County farmland and pay a $280,000 fine for failing to file timely disclosures to the state. The acreage was being used primarily for seed research. 

“Seeds are technology,” says Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Arkansas governor. “China’s state-owned corporations filter that technology back to their homeland, stealing American research and telling our enemies how to target American farms. That is a clear threat to our national security and to our great farmers.” 

Tweaking the rules regarding ownership of agricultural land only dances around the elephant in the room. At face value, nothing seems wrong or nefarious about foreign individuals or companies owning U.S. farmland.

However, when those individuals or companies have direct ties to an entity such as the Chinese or Russian government, one starts to wonder what are the true intentions of such transactions? Is this the modern-day version of the Trojan horse playing out before our very eyes?  

Recent History Informs the Present
The Arkansas governor was correct. If countries such as China cannot buy the asset out from under our feet, then they’ll steal it right under our noses. Who remembers the great Chinese seed corn caper of 2014? Let me refresh your memory.  

In 2014, six Chinese nationals were arrested for attempting to steal genetically modified corn seeds from experiment farms DuPont and Monsanto had at the time in Iowa. The conspirators were employed by Chinese conglomerate DBN and its corn seed subsidiary, Kings Nower Seed.  

U.S. prosecutors charged the conspirators with stealing samples of the “parent” seeds that produced the genetically modified seeds and attempting to smuggle them to China. One attempt involved hiding the seeds in a bag of microwave popcorn. At least one of the conspirators was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison.

The U.S. government also confiscated two farms—one in Iowa and one in Illinois—purchased by the conspirators. 

Billions, If Not Trillions, of Dollars
Such behavior is just another day at the office for those with ruthless dreams of world domination. A 2017 report from the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property reported Chinese theft of American intellectual property costs between an estimated $225 billion and $600 billion annually.

Considering inflation and China’s accelerated ambitions, the annual number now likely runs well into the trillions. 

Whether it is pirating copies of Hollywood’s latest blockbusters, stealing blueprints of the U.S. military’s next-generation jet fighter or smuggling seed intellectual property and technology in microwave popcorn bags, this behavior puts the future of American companies and its people at serious risk.

At the local and state levels, it’s nice to see we’re waking up to the threats such trespasses on our property present. Now, it is time for the federal government to have the same backbone. This move by the USDA to seek comment on foreign land ownership should only be the start to reign in rogue behavior. And it is important that the USDA hears our voice on this matter.

Food Security is National Security 
Could this issue result in this generation’s next Cold War? Possibly. 

In a world with limited resources and a growing population, food security equals national security. The fight for protecting this value has now come to America’s back 40, which should not be for sale—no matter the price. 

Keeping our land in the hands of the American farmer and our nation’s agricultural intellectual property secure are essential to the preservation of American agriculture and our country’s future prosperity. It’s that simple.