The chair and the director of the China Policy Initiative of a nonprofit, nonpartisan research institute are calling for a ban on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ownership of agricultural land in the United States.
“We must ban CCP ownership of American agricultural land,” Steve Yates, chair with China Policy Initiative with the America First Policy Institute (AFPI); and Adam Savit, director of the China Policy Initiative; said in a recent opinion piece in The Washington Times.
The America First Policy Institute takes the position that China is adversarial and wants to overtake the U.S., an institute fact sheet said.
“Securing and dominating world food supply chains is an integral part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative,” Yates and Savit said in The Times. “The CCP owns enough U.S. farm acreage to house nearly 800 average-sized American family-run farms. Americans have a right to determine which foreign countries may buy U.S. farmland, and countries spreading malign influence at all levels of our society to undermine us should not be allowed to acquire it.”
In an Oct. 13 AFPI article, Savit said that banning the CCP from purchasing American agricultural land is a national security issue, not a partisan issue. He noted that American farmland is a strategic asset that enables the U.S. to maintain food security and independence, but China's Belt and Road Initiative includes the goal of controlling global food supply chains. Citing the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Savit said the amount of U.S. farmland owned by Chinese entities rose from 13,720 acres in 2010 to 352,140 acres in 2020.
“The average U.S. farm is 445 acres, so nearly 800 American families could potentially farm this acreage,” Savit said in the article.
Fourteen states have laws prohibiting the CCP from owning farmland: “Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wisconsin,” Savit wrote. Three states have introduced bills on the issue. California’s Food and Farm Security Act, passed by its legislature in August, would ban foreign governments “from purchasing, acquiring, leasing, or holding agricultural land.”
“In September 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis proposed legislation for the 2023 session prohibiting China and other ‘foreign countries of concern’ from purchasing agricultural land,” Savit wrote.
AFPI recently released a sample bill titled "Liberty for Our Agricultural Land Act" that 2023 state legislative sessions may use as an example of how states can enact bans on CCP purchases of U.S. farmland. The act draws from South Carolina H 4845 and Arizona SB 1342 legislation.
The model legislation states: “Neither the CCP, its members, nor any company or development owned or controlled by a company that is owned, in whole or in part, by, or is a subsidiary of the People’s Republic of China or the CCP or whose principal place of business is located within the People’s Republic of China may own, in whole or in part, or lease, possess, or exercise any control over any agricultural land in this state. Furthermore, a deed for any such real estate conveyance in which the CCP or its members are the recipients is deemed invalid.”
Chinese entities have been purchasing American farmland to resolve that nation’s food security problem, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Staff Research Report said. Although almost 20% of the global population lives in China, the country has only 7-9% of global arable land. China had 294 million acres of arable land in 2018 and a population of 1.4 billion as of 2020. The U.S. has over 375 million acres of arable land and a population of 329.5 million. China's arable land has been shrinking over the last decade due to soil and water pollution, industrial growth and urbanization.
