U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the new National Farm Security Action Plan on Tuesday, focusing on the importance of agriculture for national security, and taking steps against Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland.
[RELATED: New Map Breaks Down Chinese Ownership of Farmland by State…]
“This Action Plan puts America’s farmers, families, and future first—exactly where they belong. Under President Trump’s leadership, American agriculture will be strong, secure, and resilient. He will never stop fighting for our farmers and our ranchers,” said Rollins.
“Foreign ownership of land near strategic bases and US military installations poses a serious threat to our national security. The Farm Security Plan will put America First and keep our bases across the homeland secure,” added Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Though the plan does not outright ban the purchase of American farmland by China or other foreign adversaries, it does take steps to further secure U.S. farmland. Under the new plan, the USDA will place greater scrutiny on agricultural land purchases by foreigners, including a greater attention to the geospatial location of the land, which would show whether it is near sensitive locations such as military installations.
The USDA will also work with the Department of Treasury to conduct reviews of foreign agriculture, and agriculture-related biotech operations in the U.S.
In announcing her plan, Rollins promised that the USDA will work with Congress and state legislatures to advocate for legislative and executive action to end ownership and control of U.S. farmland by foreign nationals from adversarial nations.
“This is an all of government approach. What that means is that if we’re gonna really ban China from buying our farmland, or any foreign adversaries, it’s got to be, the states have to lean in, the federal government has to step up. We’ve got to have executive orders out of the White House,” said Rollins speaking on Fox News.
The USDA will encourage farmers and others to use a new online portal to report false or failed reporting and compliance with the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act of 1978 (AFIDA), that requires foreign investors to report their agriculture land transactions to the USDA.
The portal will also accept reports of adversarial foreign influence on lawmakers meant to sway agricultural policies.
The Farm Security Plan will identify and address potential risks to the U.S. agriculture system that could be exploited by an enemy nation, and to prevent the influx of dangerous biological or chemical agents that could devastate the U.S. food supply.
The USDA plan also cracks down on abuses of the U.S.’s food assistance programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders.”
That crackdown will ensure that enforcement actions are taken against fraud, that no funds assist terrorism or criminal activity in any way, and will ensure that businesses previously found complicit in SNAP fraud will no longer be able to accept SNAP transactions.
American farmers will benefit from the new USDA initiative, which will ensure that research benefits domestic, rather than foreign, agricultural enterprises, and that foreign adversaries do not receive USDA research grants.
“USDA will continue to review, identify, and subsequently eliminate all agreements
both funded and unfunded going to people and entities from countries of concern or other foreign adversaries as well as other arrangements with foreign entities that are no longer aligned with USDA’s mission,” said the plan.
“Unless statutorily required and/or strategically approved by USDA leadership, all
USDA funding will immediately be prioritized to be conducted in America using American made technology, research, and innovation including but not limited to drones, biotechnology, and biomanufacturing,” it continued.
Concerns about Chinese ownership of U.S. land have grown in recent years, and only continue to rise, fueled by things like Chinese owned marijuana grows using toxic illegal pesticides in rural Maine, Chinese ownership of land near military bases, and Chinese nationals attempting to smuggle potential bioterrorism agents into the U.S. that could devastate the nation’s food supply.
[RELATED: Chinese Nationals Caught Trying to Smuggle Dangerous Biological Agent Into the U.S….]
According to a 2024 map from the USDA, China and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) associated entities owned a staggering 346,915 acres of farmland in the U.S., including in Maine, much of which lies near U.S. military bases.
The land’s proximity to military bases is more concerning given the successful use of drone technology in ongoing wars across the globe.
Ukraine successfully smuggled drones deep into Russia using trucks that went undetected until they launched a successful surprise attack on a Russian airfield containing the nation’s strategic nuclear capable bombers.
As part of Israel’s recent strikes on Iran, the nation’s intelligence agency, Mossad, successfully infiltrated the Islamic country, constructed drone facilities inside Iran, and launched successful attacks from those facilities.
Those successful operations raise questions about what China could do with hundreds of thousands of acres of U.S. land. Could China have drone facilities on land near U.S. bases, awaiting an order to strike?
