Biden must sign FARM Act if he is serious about standing up to China

In today’s volatile world, the best offense is a strong defense. Between war, disease, and financial uncertainty, America’s enduring status as the world’s economic and military superpower is critical to our national sovereignty, economic prosperity, and food security – and we must maintain it. But our adversaries – particularly the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – are counting on us to let our guard down where we least expect, our own backyard.

In the United States, foreign entities own more than 38 million acres of our farmland. Foreign ownership of our farmland puts our national and food security at risk. One acre of foreign-owned farmland is one acre too many. We must act immediately to permanently ban foreign entities, particularly the CCP, from purchasing our land to protect our farmers, our families, and our livelihoods.

In Iowa, we’ve been leading on this issue for 44 years. Pursuant to section 91.3 of Iowa Code 2022, “a nonresident alien, foreign business or foreign government, or an agent, trustee or fiduciary thereof, shall not purchase or otherwise acquire agricultural land” in Iowa. This model legislation has been on the books since 1979 and keeps China far away from our farmland.

Drawing inspiration from Iowa’s strong leadership, the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives established, for the first time in our nation’s history, a bipartisan select committee to, among many priorities, investigate China’s American farmland purchases and prevent further farm acquisitions. China only owns roughly 192,000 acres of American farmland, and we cannot be naïve about their intentions. From surveillance and intellectual property theft to agroterrorism and biothreats, we must anticipate and prepare for the worst.

While our work in Iowa is ironclad, foreign purchases of U.S. farmland require a robust federal response. If President Biden is serious about defending our farmers and standing up to China, the FARM Act, should receive his signature. This bill appoints the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and requires the Committee to review any agricultural investment that could result in foreign control of any American farmland, food producer, or agricultural business. If the President can’t agree to commonsense policies like that, China will continue to infiltrate rural America.

Nearly 90% of Iowa’s land is used for agriculture and if we were able to find a solution in 1979, there is no excuse for the federal government in 2023. Iowa farmers and families are rightfully concerned and angry about China’s global aggression and alarming purchase of American farmland. Iowa has done its jobs, now it’s time for the Biden Administration to do theirs because American farmland belongs to American farmers.

This op-ed was originally published in the Washington Times on February 22, 2023.