Peter Navarro, a senior trade adviser at the White House, quoted a classic passage from “The Art of War” during a press conference last month: “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
At the same press conference, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the “National Farm Security Action Plan,” positioning agriculture as a crucial component of national security in the United States.
Rollins emphasized that agriculture is not only about feeding a family but also about national security. Therefore, necessary measures need to be taken against external adversaries attempting to purchase American farmland.
Navarro and Rollins were referring to the behavior of Chinese investors acquiring large tracts of land in the United States, often near military bases.
This land acquisition is facing increasing opposition at both state and federal levels.
According to a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as of December 31, 2023, Chinese companies and individuals collectively held 277,336 acres of agricultural land in the United States. Agricultural land includes forests and farmland. However, the USDA does not track non-agricultural foreign land ownership.
Under the 1978 Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA), foreign individuals and companies holding U.S. agricultural land are required to report the owner’s name, country of origin, and land use.
Chinese-owned agricultural land is spread throughout the United States, with the most concentrated purchases in Texas (123,708 acres), North Carolina (44,263 acres), Missouri (42,905 acres), Utah (33,035 acres), and Florida (12,798 acres). These five states account for 93% of the total land area owned by Chinese entities in the U.S.
In addition, according to data from the USDA, there are currently 30 military facilities with Chinese-owned agricultural land within a radius of 100 to 150 miles, with 14 of the parcels of land being in the same county as military bases.
Among these landowners, a few Chinese companies dominate the landscape.
One of the largest landowners is Murphy-Brown, with a total of 132,310 acres, including 43,091 acres in its Missouri division. The company is a major pork producer in the United States and is owned by the Chinese state-owned company, WH Group.
Ranking second is Brazos Highland Properties, which owns 86,994 acres.
The other top five companies are Harvest Texas (29,705 acres), U.S. AgriChemicals Corp. (11,263 acres), and Syngenta Seeds (2,452 acres). These five companies collectively hold 95% of the agricultural land owned by Chinese entities in the U.S.
According to the USDA data, Chinese ownership of agricultural land in the U.S. has seen three significant increases in the past 30 years: in 1989, 2013, and from 2017 to 2019, each accompanied by significant acquisitions.
In 1989, the Chinese state-owned chemical company Sinochem acquired U.S. Agri-Chemicals Corp., obtaining 11,263 acres of land in Florida.
In 2013, the Chinese state-owned company WH Group acquired over 130,000 acres of land by purchasing Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the U.S. These acquisitions were mainly concentrated in North Carolina, Missouri, and Utah, with subsequent small-scale acquisitions bringing the total land…