Tag: farmland

Safeguarding Food and National Security, Georgia Advances Bill to Ban Foreign Adversaries from Purchasing Land

Debra McClure
Georgia Farmland Bill

A bill placing sharp limits on the foreign ownership of Georgia farmland passed the State House by a vote of 97-67 Thursday. SB 420 would restrict certain nonresidents and business entities from purchasing farmland or land near military bases in Georgia. The bill now goes back to the Stae Senate for further consideration.

The bill specifies that certain individuals and business entities from a country “designated as a foreign adversary by the United States” would not be permitted to acquire “agricultural land or land within a ten-mile radius of any military base, military installation, or military airport.”

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Commentary: Voters Want China Out of American Farmland

Admin
China Farmland

Americans firmly reject the Chinese agenda of acquiring U.S. assets, especially vital strategic ones like American farmland. Battleground polling reveals that this issue provides an opportunity for patriotic populist candidates to protect the heartland, provide a stark contrast vs. the leftist big business globalists, and reap substantial political benefits in November’s elections.

Of course, Chinese companies and nationals buy substantial real estate across the board in America, not just farmland. According to National Association of Realtors data, China remains by far the largest source of foreign purchases of U.S. homes. Last year, the Chinese bought $13.6 billion in American homes, more than double the $6.1 billion they spent the year before.

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As Inflation Worries Investors, Wall Street Is Buying Up American Soil

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Wall Street is moving to buy up U.S. farmland in hopes that it will be a safe bet to hedge against inflation and concerning economic conditions, according to Reuters.

Investment funds have accumulated over a million acres of farmland in the U.S., a small part of the 900 million acres in the U.S. but significant for the market when looking at the pace of acquisitions, according to Reuters. The move from investors is drawing the concern of some, including lawmakers, who see the quick constraint on supply as a barrier for the next generation of farmers who can’t buy at the elevated price.

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Proposal Argues Brownfields Better for Solar than Farmland

The Center Square

The growth of solar generation in Pennsylvania over the last decade owes largely to farmers willing to share their land, a fact that leaves others worried about neighboring property values and future sustainability.

As such, Sen. Doug Mastriano – former gubernatorial candidate and right-wing firebrand who represents a district that spans Franklin and Adams counties – recently introduced a bill limiting the use of farmland for solar development in Pennsylvania. The legislation would prohibit development on prime farming land considered class one or class two by the USDA.

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Committee Says Prospective Michigan Plant’s Farmland Purchase Not in Its Jurisdiction

The Center Square

Local and national efforts to stymie the building of an electric vehicle battery components plant in Michigan were dealt another setback on Tuesday.

The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment declared that the purchase of farmland in Big Rapids by Gotion was not within its jurisdiction. Opponents of the $2.4 billion plant have protested ties by its parent company to China and raised concerns about the environment.

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Gov. Youngkin Proposes Amendments to 78 Bills

The Center Square

Virginia lawmakers will return to Richmond next week to consider Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed amendments and recommendations to 78 bills sent to his desk during the legislative session.

Last week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed more than 700 bills into law, vetoed three bills and submitted recommendations for 78 others. The legislature is set to reconvene for a one-day session in Richmond April 12 to consider the governor’s proposed recommendations and take votes on whether to accept or reject the governor’s amendments.

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Virginia Lawmakers Support Banning ‘Foreign Adversaries’ from Buying Farmland

The Center Square

A proposal backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to prevent “foreign adversaries” from acquiring farmland in Virginia won support in the House and Senate this week when similar measures were passed in both chambers. 

Two bills in the House and Senate – Senate Bill 1438 and House Bill 2325 – would prohibit “foreign adversaries” from purchasing agricultural land in the commonwealth starting this year. The bill defines “foreign adversaries” as any foreign government or “nongovernment person” determined by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to have engaged in “a long-term pattern” of conduct threatening national security. 

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Chinese Nationals Have Bought Thousands of Acres of Strategically Located U.S. Farmland

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Ownership of U.S. farmland by Chinese nationals has risen significantly in the last decade and amounted to 338,000 acres as of 2020, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data.

Since 2010, Chinese nationals have reportedly purchased an additional 75,000 acres of U.S. farmland, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data obtained by the WSJ. Although amounting to less than 1% of all U.S. agricultural land held by foreign citizens, ownership of U.S. farmland by Chinese nationals has received increased scrutiny in recent years following warnings from U.S. government officials claiming that the Chinese government may seek to use land for military and espionage purposes, according to the WSJ.

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DeSantis, State Legislature to Further Limit Chinese Influence in Florida

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he’s considering banning Chinese entities from purchasing property in Florida and that the state legislature was looking at ways to further restrict the communist country’s influence in Florida.

“We don’t want to have holdings [in Florida] by hostile nations. If you look at the Chinese communist Party, they’ve been very active gobbling up land … and when they have interests that are opposed to ours and we see how they have wielded their authority especially with President Xi [Jinping], who’s taken a much more Marxist-Leninist turn, that is not in the best interest of Florida to have the Chinese Communist Party owning farm land, owning land close to military bases.”

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Florida Agricultural Commissioner Wants to Ban Land Sales to Foreign Entitities

The Center Square

Florida’s new Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson wants to restrict the sale of The Sunshine State’s farmland to foreign countries after increasing concerns about what foreign buyers – namely Chinese companies closely affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – are doing with the agricultural land once they purchase it.

Food costs and supply are becoming a point of contention for Floridians and Americans as a whole, and there is worry that the continuation of farmland sales to foreign entities could cause food prices to be intentionally inflated or production could be shut down altogether.

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House Republicans Request Government Watchdog Investigate Foreign Investments in American Farmland

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More than 100 House Republicans are asking a government watchdog to probe foreign investments in U.S. farmland, including those by China, which they say may present national and food security concerns.

Led by Reps. Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania and James Comer of Kentucky, the lawmakers on Saturday called on the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study foreign farmland ownership and how the U.S. government is monitoring acquisitions, a letter shows. There has been an uptick in foreign investments and ownership, which may be “underreported” due to the U.S. Agriculture Department’s (USDA) unreliable data, the Republicans say.

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$20 Million in Federal Funds for Pennsylvania Preservation of Streams, Farmland

The Center Square

A grant program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will send $20 million to Pennsylvania to restore streams in central Pennsylvania and preserve farmland.

The funding is part of a $200 million initiative, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, “to address on-farm, watershed, and regional natural resource concerns.” The RCPP was created by the 2014 Farm Bill and has sent out almost 600 awards.

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A Deep Dive into the ‘Density Delusion’

Admin

For decades, American workers have watched as their ability to enjoy middle-class lifestyles erodes away. Conventional explanations abound. American industry in the immediate aftermath of World War II was uniquely unscathed, and with a near-monopoly on global manufacturing, it was able to pass much of the ample profits on to workers. It wasn’t until the 1970s that American manufacturers confronted serious foreign competition, and ever since, the competition has only become more intense.

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Pennsylvania Farmer Wins Supreme Court Case That Finds Federal Property Rights are Equal to Other Constitutional Rights

Jason M. Reynolds

  The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a Pennsylvania farm owner who said the government effectively took her property without paying for it. Rose Knick won the victory in the case of Knick v. Township of Scott. In making its ruling, SCOTUS overturned a 1985 precedent, Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City. The Supreme Court’s opinion is here. Knick was represented by Pacific Legal Foundation, which argued for SCOTUS to overturn the 1985 ruling that allowed federal courts to refuse to hear her challenge to a local ordinance that forced her to allow public access to her private farmland, according to a press release by PLF. PLF said in a story that Knick’s ordeal began in 2013, when government agents forced her to allow public access to a suspected gravesite on her farmland. She sued over the unconstitutional taking. A federal court refused to hear her federal claim, citing the 1985 decision. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, Tennessee owned of a tract of land in Williamson County and intended to develop it into a residential subdivision, according to a case summary by Oyez. The Williamson County Regional Planning Commission denied the…

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