Curbing Chinese ownership of farmland has become a popular rallying cry for lawmakers looking to prove their tough-on-Beijing chops ahead of November elections. But some subsidiaries of Chinese agriculture companies are fighting back, warning lawmakers against sweeping legislation that could harm their businesses and the US economy.
Seed company Syngenta, owned by Chinese state-owned enterprise Sinochem, has been trying to discourage lawmakers from interfering on their land ownership. Its affiliated political action committee has already spent $355,150 this election cycle, including on re-election bids for some of the very members publicly pushing to ban adversaries’ ownership of American farms. That’s more than it spent in the entirety of the 2022 and 2020 cycles.
Smithfield Foods, which is based in Virginia but owned by the Chinese-owned WH Group, is also cautioning lawmakers against sweeping legislation the company says would hurt American workers. Smithfield has donated to a number of Democrats and Republicans through its affiliated PAC. The group, HAMPAC, donated to Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra (Iowa) and Democratic Rep. Jim Costa (Calif.), who both have called for more restrictions on Chinese ownership of farmland.
Though these companies currently only own a tiny fraction of US land, their American holdings bolster their bottom lines and export potential. But as election season approaches, lawmakers see China as a popular target to appeal to voters wary of foreign influence. GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in particular has railed against China’s growing threat.
A House panel Thursday is taking up a farm programs renewal, which includes a provision that aims to strengthen reporting of US farmland ownership by foreign entities. While the Senate hasn’t released its version yet, the bipartisan hot topic is almost certain to emerge as senators debate the reauthorization and craft a compromise with the House.
“I think this is something that a lot of members are concerned about,” said Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), ranking member of the Senate’s agriculture panel.
The estimate of how much farmland China owns hovers around 1% of US acreage, according to the USDA’s Farm Service Agency But lawmakers have sounded the alarm increasingly over the past few years that Chinese ownership of US farms is increasing and could pose risks to US national security.
“We need to prevent foreign adversaries like China and Iran from undermining the American agricultural industry,” Costa said in a statement.
The House and Senate Agriculture Committees have both held hearings on the topic in the past year, and banning Chinese farmland ownership has bipartisan momentum. Democratic Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.) and Republican Sens. Mike Braun (Ind.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) announced legislation last year that would stop China and other adversaries like Iran, North Korea, and Russia from buying or leasing US farmland.
Stoking Xenophobia
A federal ban has invited criticism from lawmakers who say it could stoke xenophobia and impact Chinese landowners who aren’t tied to the Chinese Communist Party. Agricultural experts warn that such drastic action against Chinese agriculture could hurt US markets more broadly.
“We must not stand for laws that discriminate based on ethnicity and nationality,” Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), the only Asian American member of the House Agriculture Committee, said at a recent hearing. “Before proposing broad bans that could have significant impacts on Asian Americans and our immigrants, there’s a lot more that we could do to invest in data collection and reporting.”
China was the top export market for US agricultural goods in 2023, and Michigan State Professor David Ortega said federal action targeting China could invite Chinese government retaliation.
“It’s important to keep in mind that the US has interests and land in foreign countries as well,” Ortega said. And if China wanted to buy fewer US agricultural goods in retaliation, Ortega said, “it is far easier for a country like China to find a new source of these types of agricultural products than it is for our American farmers to find new export markets.”
But hammering Chinese ownership of agricultural land has emerged as a message for farm-state lawmakers seeking re-election.
“Americans have sacrificed too much to just hand over our land over to China and the Communist Party,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a House Agriculture Committee member in a competitive district, says in a recent radio ad. “It’s a matter of principle, Nebraska pride, and national security. That’s why, in Congress, I am leading the fight to ban China from buying any Nebraska farmland.”
Bacon’s campaign received a $2,500 donation from the Syngenta Employee PAC earlier this year for his 2024 re-election campaign. Syngenta made similar donations across the aisle, including to Tester. These donations highlight how these companies are urging even China’s top critics in Congress to avoid sweeping legislation like a farmland buy ban.
“SyngentaPac is a 100% employee-funded organization that allows Syngenta’s American employees – Americans working for American agriculture – to proudly support legislators who align with our mission to support the nation’s hardworking farmers,” Syngenta spokesman Saswato Das in a statement.
Das said the PAC donates to candidates who are “strong advocates for American agriculture.”
House Agriculture Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson’s (R-Pa.) re-election campaign got $5,000 from Syngenta in February. He defended the company as “interested in good, solid American agriculture” and has enough of a firewall between its domestic operations and Chinese ownership.
“I do think future acquisitions like that should be reviewed by the CFIUS committee,” Thompson added, referring to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. Many lawmakers have proposed CFIUS overhaul as an alternative to a more drastic ban on farmland owned by adversaries.
Lobbying Allowed
Syngenta and Smithfield are allowed as subsidiaries of foreign-owned companies to lobby members of Congress, and corporate PACs often donate to re-election campaigns for lawmakers active on their issues. Absent a trade sanction on a company hiring lobbyists, said lawyer Josh Rosenstein, foreign-owned companies just need to comply with US reporting laws.
Syngenta spent more than $1 million on federal lobbying last year, according to disclosures with Congress, and another $140,000 in the first quarter of this year. Smithfield, which retained the firm Holland and Knight to influence lawmakers, spent $920,000 on lobbying last year and another $230,000 the first quarter of this year,
Jim Monroe, vice president for corporate affairs at Smithfield, emphasized that its parent is Hong Kong based, publicly traded, and has investors from around the world. He said much of Smithfield’s communications with lawmakers involve telling them about the company’s ownership structure — contending that WH Group’s Chinese ownership shouldn’t make Smithfield a target.
“We are not owned by a foreign government,” Monroe said, and “we don’t conduct commercial activities on behalf of a foreign government.”
Some China critics see the farmland ownership issue as one better suited for the states to regulate, given the diverse agricultural industries and military installations around the country..
“We have a big focus on state work with the idea that it can serve as an example” for possible future federal action, said Adam Savit, director of the China Policy Initiative at the America First Policy Institute. Savit said there’s growing grassroots concern with Chinese ownership of US land, but some activists are concerned money from large foreign-owned businesses that bolster the local economy is complicating the situation.
“Often, the local government will want this investment,” Savit added.
And some stakeholders see the issue as overblown, with just a small fraction of US land owned by China. Agriculture Committee member Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.), whose campaign got $2,500 from Syngenta’s PAC last month, noted that the top owner of farmland in her district is Bill Gates. She said the farm bill should more generally focus on supporting family farms by fostering competition.
“I’ve yet to really in my district see the threat of the Chinese and farmland acquisitions,” Budzinski said.
Kate Ackley also contributed to this story.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editors responsible for this story: