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First Fox: Republican Senator Pete Ricketts and Democrat Senator John Fetterman have worked with the law to codify foreign surveillance buying American farmland.
The Bipartisan Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure (AFIDA) Improvement Act seeks to implement recommendations issued by the Government’s Accountability Office (GAO) in January 2024.
“American farmland should stay in the hands of American farmers and ranchers, not foreign enemies,” Nebraska’s Rickett first shared with Fox News Digital. “The neighbors who feed us should benefit from land ownership, not communist China. Food security is national security.”
The bill, which introduced the law by Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, John Cornyn of Texas, Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Don Bacon of Nebraska, requires an AFIDA report for foreigners with multiple interest in American farmland.
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R-Neb. Sen. Pete Ricketts of the United States proposed bipartisan law on Thursday to increase foreign surveillance to buy US farmland. (Getty Images)
“For the past decades, China has acquired American farmland to infiltrate its agricultural supply chain. Food security is national security and we cannot provide a foothold for the CCP,” Tuberville said in a statement in Fox News Digital.
Senate Republicans begin efforts to ban Chinese citizens from purchasing US land
The AFIDA Improvement Act aims to increase information sharing between the US Foreign Investment Committee and the USDA (USDA). Additionally, an update to Afida’s handbook is required, and USDA establishes a deadline for setting up an online AFIDA system.
Bacon, sponsor of the bill’s House, told Fox News Digital, “If malicious foreign agents such as CCPs try to buy farmland in our country, implementing the actual process will enhance the security of our country.”
On Wednesday, July 20, 2022, tractors collect hay bas during a heat wave outside Elgin, Texas.
Based on GAO’s recommendations, the bill attempts to update the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 to equip the USDA with better equipment to combat American farmland ownership.
Under AFIDA, foreign companies must disclose to USDA transactions on American farmland.
Foreign investors own more than 40 million acres of farmland in the United States, and between 2010 and 2021, Chinese ownership of American farmland increased from 13,720 acres to 383,935 acres, according to the USDA.
The AFIDA Improvement Act is the latest attempt by Congressional Republicans to track foreign ownership of American farmland and strengthen national security. It was featured in 2024 by Bacon and Senator Tammy Baldwin.
China owned about 350,000 acres of farmland in 27 states last year, according to USDA data.
The Chinese flag will hit Pintan Island, the closest point in China to Taiwan’s main island in Fujian Province, southeastern China on December 11, 2024 (Adek Berry)
The movement to ban China from purchasing US farmland near military bases has been steaming in the Senate this year. The Pass Act, led by Senator Mike Round, is supported by majority leader John Tune Rs.D., preventing entities from “covered countries” including China, North Korea, Russia and Iran from purchasing farmland near military bases and sensitive sites.
Arkansas Republican Senators Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and Katie Britt of Alabama earlier this year proposed banning China from purchasing US land entirely.
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In the trajectory of the 2024 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump has indicated that China will ban the purchase of American farmland.
The Senate passed a bipartisan amendment in 2023 that banned China, Russia, North Korea and Iran from purchasing American farmland and agricultural businesses, but it did not become a law.
Morgan Phillips of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
Deirdre Heavey is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
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