Pentagon, USDA Announce Collaboration to Bolster Agricultural Security

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Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, on Feb. 11, announced a new cooperative effort to protect U.S. farmland and agricultural resources from foreign threats.

At a Wednesday press conference, Rollins and Hegseth noted a range of threats to U.S. agricultural security, including Chinese Communist Party-linked entities buying up farmland and Al Qaeda training manuals encouraging attacks on agriculture.

In light of these threats, Rollins and Hegseth signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday, which would see the Pentagon and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) collaborate on efforts to improve agricultural security.

One initial line of collaboration will see the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency coordinate with the USDA’s chief scientist to identify new threats to U.S. agriculture and develop technological solutions to address those threats.

Rollins said the USDA would also form a new office to oversee efforts to protect sensitive agricultural research.

The new memorandum of understanding between the USDA and the Pentagon is meant to help advance the National Farm Security Action Plan, which President Donald Trump’s administration released in July.

“Under the leadership of President Trump, we’re continuing to put America and Americans first by directly confronting these vulnerabilities, not hiding from them, not papering them over, not pretending they don’t exist. Attacking them head-on,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth said the increased collaboration between the Pentagon and the USDA will also go toward agricultural projects that “directly enhance our military’s strength and readiness.”

In recent years, U.S. policymakers have increasingly raised alarm as foreign-linked entities, particularly those linked to China, bought up U.S. farmland. Land purchases near sensitive U.S. military installations have added to that sense of alarm.

“China alone owns 265,000 acres of American agricultural land. Back in 1983, it was only 2,000 acres,” Rollins said.

“These actions exposed strategic vulnerabilities in America’s food and agriculture supply chain.”

The 1978 Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act obligates foreign entities that own interests in U.S. agricultural land to disclose their ownership interests and their foreign affiliations. Under the National Farm Security Action Plan, the USDA has also pledged to coordinate with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to help review foreign investments in agricultural lands, businesses, and technologies.

State and federal lawmakers have sponsored dozens of bills seeking to curtail land purchases by individuals and entities connected to countries of concern, such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Several states have managed to enact such legislation.

The National Farm Security Action Plan says the USDA “will work alongside State and Congressional partners where applicable to take swift legislative or executive action to end the direct or indirect purchase or control of American farmland by nationals from countries of concern or other foreign adversaries.”

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