Virginia Moves to Ban China From Buying Farmland
After legislation in the legislature, Virginia will ban foreign competitors, including China from purchasing agricultural land in the commonwealth. House Delegates and Senate Recently, the proposal was approved and the measure was sent to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is expected to sign the ban. Retroactively, the ban will take effect Jan. 1.
Prohibiting China’s purchase Farmland Youngkin’s legislative agenda for this year is dominated by Virginia
“Virginians—not the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]—should own the rich and vibrant agricultural lands God has blessed us with. That is why I am asking the General Assembly to send me a bill to prohibit dangerous foreign entities tied to the CCP from purchasing Virginia farmland,” He said this in his State of the Commonwealth address at the beginning the 2023 legislative session. “The stakes are too high, and the consequences are too great.”
Virginia’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will be required to publish an annual report on foreign land ownership that it submits to the governor and General Assembly under the new law. The VDACS website should have the inaugural report ready by July 1. Once the law is enacted, it won’t impact any transactions that were done before July 1.
Virginia’s definition of “respectful” foreign adversaries Follows the Department of Commerce’s design. Along with China, the current list also includes Cuba, Russia, North Korea, and a Venezuelan politician.
Chinese entities owned about 14,000 acres of agricultural land in Virginia as of the end of 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The largest part of this is due to Smithfield Foods Inc.’s 2013 purchase, which was the largest producer of pork in the United States.
Foreign land ownership reporting to USDA is largely voluntary. The reporting requirements aren’t always strictly enforced. While the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act stipulates that the penalty for failing to report foreign land ownership can be as much as a quarter of the property’s market value, in reality, the USDA often reduces the penalty amount significantly because of concern over disincentivizing File.
For instance, the $21 million fine for failing to report a land sale associated with Blue Hills Wind Farm in Texas by a Chinese firm was cut to $120,000.
According to the University of Arkansas’s February report, 28 states have no restrictions on foreign ownership of agricultural lands. National Agricultural Law Center. Virginia will soon prohibit Chinese entities owning any interest on its agricultural land. Texas And Florida You should restrict Chinese real estate purchases, which includes farmland.
Protecting military assets
Youngkin, instead of focusing on the acres, emphasized the military resources in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“In Virginia, we’re standing up strong,” Fox News reported that he spoke to them on February 26. “We will make sure that the CCP does not purchase our agricultural land.
“We’ve got an act now through on a Bipartisan basis that we will sign. It will prevent China from purchasing our agricultural farmland. This is especially important next to our national strategic resources like the Pentagon, Quantico, the largest naval base in all of the world, and the Pentagon.
“We’re going to make sure that we keep these national strategic assets safe.”
Macaulay Porter, Youngkin’s spokeswoman, stated that the measure will be signed by the President in the coming weeks.
“The governor has been clear since day one that Virginians, their tax dollars, and their farmland should not enrich the CCP or dangerous foreign entities at the expense of national security,” She spoke to The Epoch Times via email.
Earlier this year, a corn mill proposal by a Chinese-based company in Grand Forks, North Dakota, was terminated after the U.S. Air Force warned that the project, which was to be on land within 15 miles of the Grand Forks Air Force Base, posed a “significant threat to national security.”
In December 2022, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (a federal panel charged to review foreign acquisitions for national security risk) decided that it would be closing. They didn’t have jurisdiction to probe the land purchase, the controversial project came to a screeching halt following the Air Force’s input.
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