China has been buying up agricultural land in the United States for years, a trend that a U. S. lawmaker said must end in order to safeguard the U.S. food supply chain.
For this reason, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) introduced an amendment to the House’s fiscal year 2022 agriculture appropriations legislation (H. R.4356) in June. In a recent interview with NTD, the lawmaker explained what his amendment would do.
“China, frankly, is an adversary. We want to make sure that we control our food supply. I think it’s a natural, important, national security issue,” Newhouse said.
The amendment was adopted unanimously by the House Appropriations Committee on June 30. On July 29, the House approved the agriculture appropriations legislation as part of a package of seven 2022 spending measures (H. R.4502).
If enacted, the amendment would empower the secretary of agriculture to prohibit the purchase of agricultural land in the United States by companies owned by China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, according to the language of the legislation. In China, there’s no distinction between private businesses and state-owned companies, since the Chinese Communist Party can exercise control over private firms through Chinese law or through embedded Party cells.
The measure also would prohibit the four countries from taking part in programs administered by the secretary of agriculture.
Newhouse said the current language of his amendment has been changed. He had initially named only China (pdf), but not the three other nations.
“During the rules process, it was changed somewhat by the Democrats to include several other countries,” he said. “But the fact remains that communist China is the threat. They’re the ones that are buying up most of the assets of that list of nefarious countries that are not our friends. And that’s where the focus should be.”
Chinese firms have been buying U. S. agricultural land for the past decade. According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Chinese investors controlled 191,652 acres in the United States worth about $1.86 million before the s… (Read more)
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