Indiana’s two U.S. senators are joining the legislative effort to protect American farmland from being purchased or leased by foreign adversaries.
Sens. Mike Braun and Todd Young, both Republicans, are among 15 senators from both parties sponsoring legislation that would add additional federal oversights to farmland deals. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the measure on Wednesday.
The Protecting American Agriculture from Foreign Adversaries Act would add the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a body tasked with reviewing foreign investment transactions and encouraging the president to block or suspend any transactions with a worrisome impact on national security.
The bill also would allow the Secretary of Agriculture to place foreign-involved agricultural land transactions in front of the committee for review.
“Nearly two-thirds of land in Indiana – and more than half of all land in the United States – is farmland,” Young said in a news release. “Indiana is a leader in restricting these purchases, but Congress must act to ensure permanent safeguards are in place in all fifty states.”
Braun said in a written statement that the “amount of American soil in the hands of our foreign adversaries will only go up if we do not implement restrictions and oversight, especially on nations that compromise our national security and agricultural supply chains.”
Indiana’s state lawmakers already have taken action to shut out certain foreign farmland investors.
The Legislature this year passed a law prohibiting purchasers from “adversarial countries” from owning or leasing Hoosier farmland. The bill had bipartisan support and was championed by Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch.
That measure adds to a 2022 bill that bars foreign entities from buying more than 320 acres for crop farming or timber production.
Braun, who is running for governor, has said that his actions at the federal level are reflective of what his policy positions would be at the state level. Jennifer McCormick, his Democrat challenger for governor, also supports farmland protections against foreign adversaries, according to her campaign website.
Foreign entities own or lease about 2.4% of Indiana’s farmland, amounting to about 438,876 acres, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture 2022 report on foreign holdings of agricultural land. That number grew by over 5,000 acres since the 2021 report.
While legislation restricts foreign adversaries—mainly Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela, the USDA report lists Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom and Germany as top foreign landholders in the U.S. Those countries account for 62% of foreign-held agricultural and non-agricultural land.
Chinese entities held less than 1% of total foreign-owned land in the U.S. with 346,915 acres, according to the USDA. Five companies own or lease 87% of those acres, and the Chinese government has no U.S. agricultural land holdings.
The states with the most Chinese-owned land are Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Utah and Virginia. The USDA report doesn’t specify how much farmland in Indiana is owned by Chinese entities.
Farmland isn’t the only asset state lawmakers are attempting to safeguard from China.
Overseers of state pension funds are required to divest from its China-related holdings due to “the risk to the security and welfare” of the country.
Another law prohibits Indiana’s critical infrastructure, such as roads, energy, water and communications systems, from contracting with certain entities including those in China. Cities and towns are also barred from sister-city agreements, or economic and cultural collaboration partnerships, with communities in the country among others.
This story is by Cate Charron.
