A bill that seeks to ban foreign governments from purchasing land in North Carolina has been unanimously approved by the state House.
The proposed law was written up after a suspected Chinese spy balloon recently appeared over the United States.
The N.C. Farmland and Military Protection Act would prohibit China, Russia, Iran and any other "adversarial foreign government" from purchasing, leasing or holding interest in land used for agricultural production, as well as land within a 25-mile radius of a military institution.
The bill would also apply to any business enterprise in which a foreign government has a controlling interest.
"Allowing foreign adversaries to purchase farmland is a legitimate concern in rural North Carolina and poses a serious risk to our national and food security," House Majority Leader John Bell said in a statement. "By putting a halt to these land grabs, this bill will protect our state's most precious natural resources while further safeguarding our military instillations. It is critical that we act now to mitigate this unnecessary threat to our state and nation."
The bill defines an adversarial foreign government as an entity that has "engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or security and safety of United States persons."
The bill next heads to the North Carolina Senate and then to the governor's office. If approved, the law would go into effect next year and would only apply to land acquired on or after Jan. 1, 2024.
The bill is similar to bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate that would prohibit the purchase of U.S. farmland by those associated with the governments of foreign adversaries including Iran, North Korea, China and Russia.
"The surge of foreign-owned agricultural land in the U.S. demonstrates the need to keep our top foreign adversaries out of our agricultural supply chains. We must increase federal oversight of foreign investments in agricultural land," Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said in a statement. "Our food and national security must be prioritized and protected from bad actors."
Senator Mike Braun (R-IL) pointed out that Chinese ownership of American farmland increased more than 20-fold in the past decade, from $81 million in 2010 to $1.8 billion in 2020, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
"We cannot allow our top foreign adversaries to buy up American farmland and compromise our agricultural supply chains," Braun said.
The bill, known as Protecting America's Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act, has been referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
According to Fox Business, 11 states have considered banning Chinese investments in U.S. farmland; four states -- Arkansas, Idaho, Utah and Virginia -- have enacted restrictions and two states -- Montana and North Dakota -- have passed restrictions.
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