ALBANY – New York could become the latest state to ban farmland purchases by companies tied to hostile governments under a new bill unveiled in the legislature.
“In the midst of national security concerns related to spying, it is important that the United States not allow foreign adversaries like the Chinese government to continue purchasing large amounts of agricultural land,” Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara (D-Schenectady) said in a statement Friday.
The proposal would “ban entities owned by foreign adversaries,” — including China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.
Currently, 14 states have enacted similar restrictions, according to a February tally by FiveThirtyEight while more than a dozen other states are considering their own bans.
The bans have been passed amid growing concerns over US vulnerability to Chinese intelligence operations and rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.
Other countries could be added to the ban list if the Commerce Department finds a rival government is leveraging agricultural land buys in the US to threaten national security, according to Santabarbara.
Chinese investors own about 1% of the total US farmland controlled by foreigners as of 2021, according to the Congressional Research Service, which informs federal lawmakers.
A total of 62% of all farmland owned by non-Americans is controlled by people and firms tied to one of five countries: Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Germany — all solid US allies.
But recent international events have alerted lawmakers to the potential dangers of rival nations gaining access to fertile American soil.
“Food security is national security, and I think we’ve seen that Russia was able to exercise undue influence over Europe because they supplied them [with] so much natural gas,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) told National Public Radio March 1. “And similarly, if China has control over food supplies in South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, even in North America, that can give them more power, more coercive power, over the globe.”
Foreign entities currently own about 756,000 acres of farmland in the Empire State and a total of 40,031,308 acres nationwide, according to 2021 data from the US Department of Agriculture.
New York has just a fraction of the agricultural turf bought by companies tied to such nations, but the new bill would shed new light on exactly how much by requiring more reporting on sales to foreign entities.
“Now more than ever we must do all we can to protect our food supply chains here in the United States. This bill would ensure that going forward no agricultural land in New York State can be purchased by foreign advisories that pose a threat to national security,” said Santabarbara, who could not be immediately reached for comment.