House Passes Measure Blocking China From Buying US Farmland

A bipartisan House majority has overwhelmingly passed a measure to keep Chinese investment out of U.S. land vital for producing renewable energy. The measure, derived from the Defend America’s Rural Energy Act sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), passed with a vote of 407–26 on March 30 as an amendment to a bill earlier on Thursday that seeks to lower energy costs for Americans. It received support from 223 Republicans and 184 Democrats. “Food security is national security,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), who signed on Feenstra’s amendment, told The Epoch Times, adding he was proud to cosponsor a measure that “keeps farmland in the hands of farmers and out of the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.” Rep. Derrick Van Orden asks questions during a meeting of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 7, 2023. (Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times via screenshot of live video) Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) said he believes “American policy should deal with China quite decisively, and assert our massive economic leverage in every way possible.” “Wars are averted through wise economic policy, and freedom has a chance to take root,” he told The Epoch Times after the measure’s passage. “My Democrat colleagues who understand these simple truths and voted with Republicans today should be recognized and commended. The entire world is imperiled because of CCP aggression, and America must lead the causes of peace through strength, and individual rights.” Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 8, 2022. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images) While Chinese investors own just shy of 1 percent of all foreign-held land in the United States as of 2021, land acquisition from China has taken on an accelerating pace. From 2010 to 2021, purchases from the country have lept from 13,720 acres to 383,935 acres, a nearly 30-fold increase in just over a decade. Such Chinese land ownership has drawn pushback recently in states such as North Dakota, where Chinese agribusiness Fufeng Group purchased 370 acres of farmland to build a corn mill near a sensitive air force base. In January, the U.S. Air Force warned that the project poses a “significant threat to national security.” The Grand Forks City Council in February unanimously voted to scrap the project. A Virginia bill targeting China and other foreign adversaries in agricultural land acquisition has passed through both chambers of the state legislature and was signed into law on March 28. State lawmakers from Texas and Florida are also making a similar push.

House Passes Measure Blocking China From Buying US Farmland

A bipartisan House majority has overwhelmingly passed a measure to keep Chinese investment out of U.S. land vital for producing renewable energy.

The measure, derived from the Defend America’s Rural Energy Act sponsored by Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa), passed with a vote of 407–26 on March 30 as an amendment to a bill earlier on Thursday that seeks to lower energy costs for Americans. It received support from 223 Republicans and 184 Democrats.

“Food security is national security,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), who signed on Feenstra’s amendment, told The Epoch Times, adding he was proud to cosponsor a measure that “keeps farmland in the hands of farmers and out of the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Epoch Times Photo
Rep. Derrick Van Orden asks questions during a meeting of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 7, 2023. (Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times via screenshot of live video)

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) said he believes “American policy should deal with China quite decisively, and assert our massive economic leverage in every way possible.”

“Wars are averted through wise economic policy, and freedom has a chance to take root,” he told The Epoch Times after the measure’s passage. “My Democrat colleagues who understand these simple truths and voted with Republicans today should be recognized and commended. The entire world is imperiled because of CCP aggression, and America must lead the causes of peace through strength, and individual rights.”

Clay Higgins
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 8, 2022. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)

While Chinese investors own just shy of 1 percent of all foreign-held land in the United States as of 2021, land acquisition from China has taken on an accelerating pace. From 2010 to 2021, purchases from the country have lept from 13,720 acres to 383,935 acres, a nearly 30-fold increase in just over a decade.

Such Chinese land ownership has drawn pushback recently in states such as North Dakota, where Chinese agribusiness Fufeng Group purchased 370 acres of farmland to build a corn mill near a sensitive air force base. In January, the U.S. Air Force warned that the project poses a “significant threat to national security.” The Grand Forks City Council in February unanimously voted to scrap the project.

A Virginia bill targeting China and other foreign adversaries in agricultural land acquisition has passed through both chambers of the state legislature and was signed into law on March 28. State lawmakers from Texas and Florida are also making a similar push.