The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party has expressed concerns over China's unregulated purchases of U.S. farmland. The issue of China owning farmland across the United States has been a point of contention in Congress due to the growing influence China wields over government investments into U.S. agriculture.
This matter has elicited bipartisan concern in the United States Senate. Last year, an amendment by the Senate introduced a defense measure to limit the purchase of farmland by countries such as China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. However, apprehensions persist. In total, these four nations own nearly 400,000 acres of American Farmland. According to data from the United States Department of Agriculture, China's largest holdings are in Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Utah, and Virginia. These states account for approximately 85% of total Chinese holdings in the country where they own a total of 350,000 acres of agricultural land in the U.S. Although Colorado has over 557,000 acres of land owned by foreign entities, most of this land is owned by America's allies and is not perceived as a security threat.
Gallagher is advocating for Congress to pass two Acts: The BIOSECURE Act and the U.S. Farmland and Sensitive Sites From Foreign Adversaries Act. The former would restrict foreign biotech companies from acquiring genetic sequences of animals from American farmers while the latter would grant jurisdiction to the President's Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to screen land purchases from foreign adversary entities. This would mean that purchases of land near military facilities and other sensitive U.S. locations will require mandatory screening as an additional level of defense.
"The United States cannot allow foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party and its proxies to acquire real estate near sensitive sites like military bases or telecom infrastructure, potentially exploiting our critical technology and endangering our servicemembers," Gallagher said. "This bill gives CFIUS jurisdiction over foreign adversary real estate transactions to guard against the threat of the CCP and other adversaries purchasing land for malign purposes, and it also encourages CFIUS to consider food security issues as it evaluates the national security risk of a given transaction."
