USDA takes aim at Chinese farmland holdings amid rising national security concerns

U.S. Department of Agriculture chief Brooke Rollins announced…that the U.S. government will move to ban sales of farmland nationwide to Chinese buyers and other foreign adversaries, citing threats to national security and food security.

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She also announced plans to increase oversight of existing farmland owned by entities from countries including China, Russia and Iran.

Chinese investors currently own 265,000 acres of U.S. land, according to USDA data, about half of which is tied to a single company — Smithfield Foods, which was acquired in 2013 by WH Group, a Chinese conglomerate led by tycoon Wan Long.

Lawmakers have stepped up scrutiny of farmland acquisitions by Chinese entities after a controversial land deal in North Dakota. 

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The case drew attention to loopholes in the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) regulations that allowed Chinese-owned firms to purchase land near military installations not formally designated as sensitive sites.

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