Newhouse Protects U.S. Food Supply From Chinese Influence

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced an amendment to the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriations bill to prohibit the purchase of agricultural land by the People's Republic of China (PRC) and make agricultural lands currently owned by the People's Republic of China ineligible for farm programs.

"In recent years, the Chinese government has been buying up U.S. agricultural assets. Allowing this practice to continue would lead to the creation of a Chinese-owned agricultural monopoly and pose an immediate threat to U.S. national security and food security," said Rep. Newhouse. "The U.S. cannot become dependent on China for our domestic agriculture and food supply."

Click here to read the full text of the amendment.

Background:

• A 2018 report from USDA's Economic Research Service has found that Chinese investment in the agricultural sector has grown tenfold in the last decade.
  • A 1978 federal law, known as the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act, requires foreign entities to report transactions of farmland to the USDA's Farm Service Agency. The data covers years 1900 through 2016.
• Already, six states have laws banning foreign ownership of farmland. Those states are Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Dakota and Oklahoma State, but restrictions on Chinese land ownership can be circumvented by Chinese investors buying large U.S. corporations that own agricultural land.

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