A U.S. representative from Arkansas, who was among members of Congress writing to the comptroller general asking for a study of “foreign investment in U.S. farmland,” said the U.S. shouldn’t give control of farmland to foreign adversaries.
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., who was elected in 2010 to represent Arkansas' third district, served for more than 30 years in the Arkansas National Guard, retiring in 2009 as a colonel, his biography said.
“With the top farm income producing counties in Arkansas’s Third District, it is well known that production agriculture is vital to the state’s economy,” Womack, who is a senior member on the House Committee on Appropriations and a member of the Republican Whip Team, said in a news release. “America shouldn’t be ceding control of something so essential to foreign adversaries. We saw how reliance on China compounded supply chain issues, and it’s not smart to exacerbate those vulnerabilities. Every safeguard should be in place to protect our farmlands and agriculture production.”
Womack was among members of Congress who signed an Oct. 1 letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro of the U.S. Government Accountability Office asking that the office study “foreign investment in U.S. farmland and its impact on national security, trade and food security as well as U.S. government efforts to monitor these acquisitions,” the release reported.
U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., who is Republican Leader of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Glenn “GT” Thompson Jr., R-Pa., Republican Leader of the House Committee on Agriculture, put forth the letter, according to the release.
The Grand Forks Herald reported on a memo by Air Force Maj. Jeremy Fox where he expresses concern "if proximal access were given to our adversaries, and their collections were directed at us, it would present a costly national security risk causing grave damage to (the) United States’ strategic advantages.”
Preventing the Chinese Communist Party “from acquiring U.S. farmland under current law” isn’t a partisan issue, an Oct. 13 America First Policy Institute report said. The report cited U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that Chinese investors held 13,720 acres of U.S. agricultural land in 2010 and 352,140 acres in 2020.
North Dakota was among 14 states that enacted laws “banning the CCP from owning agricultural land,” AFPI reported. The others are Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Another three have reportedly introduced legislation.
The report also shows how “securing and dominating world food supply chains is an integral part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which also sees them hoarding computer chips, minerals and other sensitive commodities.”
