Rep. Joe Schmick: USA-labelled ‘foreign adversaries’ shouldn’t own WA farmland
We’ve all read stories at the national level about how more and more agriculture land is being bought up by developers for new construction, environmental groups for green energy projects, and billionaires for…well, who knows what.
But when doing some recent research, imagine my surprise when I found a report from the Iowa Farm Bureau in 2022 which showed that out of Washington state’s 22 million acres of agriculture land, foreign ownership accounted for about 1.6 million acres. That’s more than 7% of our ag land.
And nationally, foreign investors hold about 40 million acres of U.S. ag land, an area bigger than the state of Iowa.
It’s been said that “Food security is national security.” And “If you can’t feed your people in times of war, forget about living in peace.”
While I’m not here to talk about war, we can certainly talk about securing our agriculture land for the next generation of farmers and the continued provision of a nation increasingly dependent upon others to put food on the table.
Nearly half the states in our country have some sort of restriction on foreign entities owning state land, with only a handful specifically calling out foreign adversaries. But there is a national trend toward tightening these restrictions, especially when it comes to farmland.
Depending on the various definitions of “agriculture land” by different states, Maine and Hawaii typically lead the nation in percentage of land owned by foreign entities. Washington is usually in the top ten no matter how these metrics are presented.
To address this issue in our state, I’ve introduced House Bill 1999 which would prohibit foreign adversaries from purchasing agriculture land in the future.
“Foreign adversaries” is not just a made-up term from the movies. It is an official designation that comes from the United States Secretary of Commerce for certain foreign governments which have engaged in a “long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States” or danger to our citizens. To date, these include:
- China
- Cuba
- Iran
- North Korea
- Russia
- Venezuelan politician Nicolas Maduro (Maduro Regime)
My bill also directs the state Department of Agriculture to do an annual report of agriculture land owned by foreign entities, the percentage of change in foreign ownership over the last 10 years, and the purpose for which the land is being used. The report must be done on a county-by-county and statewide basis. This would give elected officials and the ag industry an updated picture of ag land trends and vulnerabilities.
While my legislation only deals with ag land owned by “foreign adversaries,” I think we do need to look at all foreign ownership of ag lands in some capacity at some point. We’re seeing these entities come in with blank checks, spending exorbitant amounts of money and artificially driving up the cost of surrounding lands. This can impede current and future farmers from expanding their operations as land becomes too expensive.
For now, my proposal is currently limited to ag land but there’s no reason it couldn’t be expanded in the future to include land with water rights, rich in mineral deposits, or within 10 miles of critical infrastructure or military installations.
Washington, like every other state in the nation, needs to hold dear the fundamental aspect of owning land, especially land that could be withheld from us, or used against us, in both times of war and peace.
(Rep. Joe Schmick, R-Colfax and former second-generation farmer and small-business owner, serves on the House Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee.)
