China Ag Land Purchases Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. A bill has been introduced called the Prohibition of Agricultural Land for the People’s Republic of China Act, which would stop China’s government from buying up any more American farmland.
Bill sponsor, U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse says there have been recent developments with regards to China’s investments …
NEWHOUSE … “There was, gosh just a couple of weeks ago, a new report that was released by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. And, their report deals with this whole topic of China purchasing agricultural interests.”
And that report, Newhouse says raises some questions …
NEWHOUSE … “And they state that there truly are concerns here that China, by making these investments in agricultural assets, I think they phrased it, as they would have undue leverage over our U.S. supply chain.”
Which, he says, goes beyond simple ag land purchases …
NEWHOUSE … “They also talk about, since the United States is a global leader and that China is one of our prime trading partners, we often talk about the importance of strengthening our agricultural sector and our food security.”
Newhouse says if you look up what China is doing around the world, what’s happening here is not surprising, and he’ll share more of that with us tomorrow.
