Rep. Clay Higgins weary of foreign countries buying U.S. Farmland amidst surveillance concerns

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - Recent alleged Chinese surveillance has heightened concerns about foreign investment in U.S. Farmland.

Foreign ownership of U.S. agricultural land doubled from 2009 to 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Chinese Communist Parties purchase of, of farmland and and vast tracts of land in America is something I 100% oppose,” said Rep. Clay Higgins. “If I had control tomorrow, I’d take it all back and I’d give them back their every red cent, shall we say.”

Current federal law imposes no restrictions on the amount of private U.S. agricultural land that can be foreign-owned. The Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 requires foreign entities to report transactions of farmland to the USDA, but a non-profit group reports that law is rarely enforced. As a result, the public does not have a complete picture of which foreign entities own how much U.S. farmland or what the land is being used for.

“Countries like China, Russia, North Korea, Iran; those places don’t want to see us exist anymore,” said Sen. Jon Tester. “The last thing we need to do is let them buy farmland, which is critical to our food security and to our national security.”

USDA reports that foreign persons and entities held an interest in 40.8 million acres of U.S. agricultural land in 2021, accounting for 3.1% of total privately owned land.

“We must have energy independence, agricultural superiority for food independence and food security,” said Higgins. “We must have freedom to transport our goods; we must have supply chain control where our most fundamental requirements to to live and prosper are provided by Americans for Americans from American soil.”