China watchLawmakers Looking to Curb Chinese Ownership of U.S. Farmland
The Chinese threat to American food security, so far, would seem minimal: As of December 2019, Chinese agricultural real estate holdings in America totaled about 78,000 hectares, which is about 0.02 percent of America’s roughly 3.6 million square kilometers of total farmland. Still, U.S. lawmakers are seeking to restrict Chinese purchases of American farmland amid fears that such purchases could ultimately pose a threat to the U.S. food supply chain.
U.S. politicians are seeking to restrict Chinese purchases of American farmland amid fears that such purchases – while so far affecting a miniscule share of U.S. agricultural land – could ultimately pose a threat to the U.S. food supply chain.
The House Appropriations Committee recently approved a provision that would bar Chinese companies from owning more farmland than they already possess. The provision also would make those holdings ineligible for U.S. farm subsidies.
Republican Washington Representative Dan Newhouse, who introduced the amendment, said at a hearing last month that the current trend is “leading us toward the creation of a Chinese-owned agricultural land monopoly.”
The bill, if passed, will “ensure the U.S. food supply chain is secure and independent, especially after all the food interruptions we all experienced during the recent pandemic,” said Newhouse, a third-generation Yakima Valley farmer who headed the Washington state agriculture department from 2009 to 2013.
His congressional district includes more than 10,000 farms, producing a variety of crops from potatoes to wine grapes.
The Chinese threat to American food security, so far, would seem minimal. As of December 2019, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, Chinese agricultural real estate holdings in America totaled about 78,000 hectares – or 780 square kilometers. That is about 0.02 percent of America’s roughly 3.6 million square kilometers of total farmland.
Larger Holdings
By comparison, Canadian and European investors each own millions of hectares of U.S. farmland, according to Fred Gale, a senior economist with the International Trade and Development Branch of USDA’s Economic Research Service.
Canadian investors alone hold 363 million hectares of American farmland – more than 4,000 times as much as the Chinese – according to USDA figures.
While comparatively small, Chinese land acquisitions in the United States are part of a global initiative that has included the purchase of U.S.-based Smithfield Foods, which Shuanghui International bought in 2013 for $4.72 billion.
“According to Chinese investment statistics, overseas ventures in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries soared from $300 million in 2009 to $3.3 billion in 2016,” said a 2018 USDA report, which found the focus of investments was shifting from farming and raw materials to agribusiness acquisitions.
The study noted that the Chinese Communist Party has identified investment in foreign agriculture as a component of the Belt and Road Initiative, its massive global infrastructure development plan.
