South Dakota Republican Senator Mike Rounds says appropriations language giving USDA more money to track agricultural land purchases by overseas interests is a good start, but more needs to be done to address the issue’s national and food security concerns.
Speaking on this week’s Agri-Pulse Newsmakers, Rounds said even as he searches for a solution in the Senate, he says states also have an important role to play.
“In fact, (states) are the laboratories of democracy, and we can learn a lot from what states do,” he said. “But overall, what we want to make sure is that our sensitive sites or our air bases are being protected from larger facilities being put near them by foreign adversaries.”
Rounds and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., have introduced legislation that would block China, Iran, North Korea and Russia from purchasing or leasing land or businesses tied to agriculture; the pair also tried unsuccessfully to tuck language into the National Defense Authorization Act.
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Micah Brown with the National Agricultural Law Center pointed out the issue of noncitizen land ownership dates back to the Declaration of Independence, but the issue emerged as a “political flashpoint” in 2021, when concern emerged about a Chinese company's plans to build a wet corn milling plant about 12 miles from an Air Force base in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The city council blocked the project, but several states responded by updating laws on the subject.
Now, Brown says federal and state action could be complementary.
“A lot of these federal proposals are very similar to the state laws being enacted,” he said, pointing specifically to language targeted toward the so-called “big four” countries. “So it seems like there's some overlap or parallel between the regulations.”
Randy Dickhut, a farmland value expert with Agricultural Economic Insights, also appeared on this week’s show to discuss the impact of foreign buyers on the American ag land market.
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