Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
WASHINGTON — An Idaho congressman is asserting more than 43 million acres of agricultural land is owned by foreign nations — including adversaries like North Korea, Iran or China.
To that end, Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is co-sponsoring the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act, or CIFUS, to add the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that 43.4 million acres of U.S. agricultural land is foreign owned, some near key military installations.
"This legislation protects Idaho from threats seen and unseen," Crapo said. "Allowing land purchases from foreign adversaries to go unchecked poses a great risk to national security and encroaches on America's natural resources.
Sens. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Joe Manchin, I-W.Va., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., John Tester, D-Mont., Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, John Fetterman, D-Pa., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Katie Britt, R-Ala., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., Todd Young, R-Ind., Deb Fischer, R-Neb., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., also co-sponsored the legislation.
The House passed companion legislation introduced by Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., last week, too.
Utah has grappled with the issue as well.
Utah, in fact, is in the Top 5 states in the country for the amount of land acreage at risk, due to the number of key military installations it hosts, including Hill Air Force Base, the Utah Test and Training Range and Dugway.
In 2023, according to the Kiowa County Press, the North Dakota state Legislature passed a pair of bills aimed at stopping the threat.
The media outlet reported that one law prohibits land ownership by nations or businesses in those countries deemed foreign adversaries under certain federal rules. The other law deals specifically with farmland, blocking foreign governments from acquiring it.
China's agricultural investment outside its borders has grown more than tenfold in less than a decade, according to the reporting by the North Dakota outlet. For the law dealing with agriculture, there are exceptions, including Canadians who want to buy North Dakota farmland. The state's agriculture commissioner cited some concerns about these restrictions, including the potential impact on agribusiness opportunities.
Ultimately, city leaders canceled a would-be purchase of an agricultural operation by China.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, testified before an agricultural congressional committee earlier this year about the issue, according to the North Dakota Monitor.
"Over the years, I have witnessed this hostile communist country work to systematically take over more of America's vital food supply chain," said Noem, who signed into law harsh restrictions on select foreign entities buying farmland in the state.
In Utah, similar restrictions are being implemented.
Rep. Candice Pierucci, R-Herriman, got legislation passed earlier this year that is attempting to change the course in Utah.
The growing threat
Her bill, HB516 prevents countries — North Korea, China, Iran and Russia — from buying land in Utah. And it goes further. If those countries, or foreign controlled companies with a 51% ownership in land holdings, already own parcels, that land has to be relinquished within a year.
"I have tried to help people see why this is so important to Utah for a couple reasons — the first being this is a major national security concern," she told the Deseret News earlier.
She added that the multiple national agencies have published reports and sounded the alarm that China is purchasing land, and in proximity to military installations.
The law she got passed requires coordination with the Utah Department of Public Safety to document those land holdings. The agency is compiling a database on land holdings in Utah and sets in motion a way to reverse that course.
A little over 20% of Maine's privately held agricultural land is held by foreign investors, which makes up 9% of total foreign-held land. Hawaii has the second-largest percentage of foreign-held U.S. agricultural land, which is 9.2% of the privately held agricultural land in the state.
Those number are according to a report by the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Reuters reports that the number of U.S. farm acres owned by foreign entities grew more than 8% in 2022, although it represents just a little more than 3% of farmland.
In Utah, less than 40,000 acres are under foreign ownership, but lawmakers want to stop the trend.
"Although Chinese-owned land is a tiny fraction of all foreign-owned land in the U.S., its purchases have raised fears that the Chinese government could have control, through the Chinese corporations, over U.S. assets or gain access to U.S.-based information," according to a National Public Radio report.
"Indeed, during the past four decades, Chinese companies and investors have bought up land in the U.S. as well as purchased major food companies like Smithfield Foods, the United States' largest pork processor."
Smithfield's website says it has 75 company owned farms, 28 contract farms and one feedmill in Utah.
