Ag Policy Blog

House Passes Bill Adding USDA to CFIUS While Nebraska Governor Touts Foreign Land Laws

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act introduced by Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash.

The vote was 269 to 149 on HR 9456 with 214 Republicans and 55 Democrats backing the bill.

The bill adds the Agriculture secretary to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) for transactions, including land, biotechnology, transportation, storage, and processing. It also requires the secretary to report any transaction that can be considered a threat to national security.

"Today, the United States took a stand against one of our greatest foreign adversaries, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)," Newhouse said in a news release. "The CCP has been quietly purchasing American agricultural land at an alarming rate, and this bill is a crucial step towards reversing that trend. We know that USDA's foreign purchase tracking is wildly flawed, and by adding the secretary of Agriculture to CFIUS, we can begin to correct course. Food security is national security, and it is incumbent upon us to keep our adversaries far away from the lands that feed our country and the world."

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., and others have introduced a companion measure in the Senate.

Members of Congress have attempted multiple times in recent years to pass similar laws to place USDA as a permanent member of the CFIUS.

In Nebraska on Wednesday, Gov. Jim Pillen and state lawmakers gathered at Husker Harvest Days to hold a press conference touting new laws dealing with land ownership.

"We need to know more about who wants to purchase our land and for what purpose. We need to protect our military installations and we need to ensure that we are taking the appropriate actions when violations are noted," Pillen said. "Agriculture drives our economy and there is nothing of greater consequence than ensuring our assets, including our crops and our animals, are protected from interference."

Sincer the beginning of January 2023, at least 22 states have passed new laws over foreign ownership of land, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report released last month. At least one state law in Florida is now being challenged in Federal courts because it restricts Chinese residents in the state from buying residential properties.

A big push for new laws was partially sparked after a Chinese company planned to build a corn mill in North Dakota near an Air Force base. Plans for the corn mill were scrapped after Air Force officials raised concerns about it.

One Nebraska law updates foreign ownership regarding foreign adversaries, which includes China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela. The law reduces the number of ownership exemptions available to foreign adversaries and takes effect in January. A second law ensures buyers of land near military bases have no connection to foreign adversaries.

Nebraska has 886,900 acres that are owned by foreign entities, of which 644,141 acres are owned by Canadians and 143,688 acres are owned by people or businesses from Italy. Another 87,819 are owned by "other countries," according to USDA's annual report on foreign land holdings.

Nationally, foreign persons own interest in at least 43.4 million acres of land. Each year that number increases anywhere from 2% to 4% according to USDA. Canadian owners hold 14.2 million acres. Foreign countries other than Canada with the most land holdings include the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany.

China owns 346,915 acres nationally. States with the most Chinese-owned land are Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Utah and Virginia. They make up 85% of Chinese land holdings.

In Arkansas last year, Syngenta -- which is owned by a Chinese state-owned entity--was fined and ordered to sell 160 acres for failing to file a land-holdings report with state officials over property tied to its subsidiary Northrup King Seed Co.

DTN Political Correspondent Jerry Hagstrom contributed to this report.

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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