China Ag Land Purchases Pt 2

China Ag Land Purchases Pt 2

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with today’s Fruit Grower Report. A bill prohibiting China from buying up more American farmland has been introduced in the House of Representatives.

The sponsor of that bill, U.S. Representative Dan Newhouse says if you look at what China’s been up to around the world, we need to protect ourselves …

NEWHOUSE … “They truly are inserting themselves into many different countries controlling natural resources, critical elements, critical minerals, infrastructures around the globe in Central America, South America and the African continent and even in Asia. We’re starting to see that here in the United States by their acquiring of agricultural assets.”

And a recent study, Newhouse says reveals China’s degree of activity here …

NEWHOUSE … “It’s a trend, as we’ve talked about before. They’re purchasing of agricultural land has gone up by a factor of 10. So that should be a concern to all Americans and it should be a food security concern and I truly think it is on the level of being a national security concern as well.”

So, Newhouse says this bill might be at least part of the answer …

NEWHOUSE … “With my legislation, I think it’s a great first step that we should be taking to try to get a handle on this so that we don’t wake up one day in the future, five, ten, twenty years from and wish that we had taken action sooner.”

Newhouse says this is something we should do preventively, now.

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