Legislature Passes Bill To Ban Foreign Ownership of Farmland

By The Washington Examiner, Sept. 1, 2022

The California legislature passed a bill Wednesday that is on its way to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) desk and would outlaw foreign country land sales to protect the nation’s food supply.

A similar bill was introduced on the federal level last month by Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from buying land in the United States.

“Food can, and is, being used as a weapon like we are seeing in Ukraine,” said the California bill’s author, state Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Fresno). “Recent reports discuss how a nation could gain leverage by acquiring agricultural land and creating bioweapons that impact our food supply chain. The Food and Farm Security Act seeks to protect California’s water and food supply, especially as water availability across Western states decreases.”

California has a large Central Valley farm belt, where two-thirds of the nation’s fruits and nuts are grown, Hurtado’s website says. The state is also a leader in producing melons, lettuce, asparagus, and other foods that have been decimated by a multiyear drought that has caused farmers to cut back on crop acreage

The bill would exempt land owned by a foreign government prior to Jan. 1. It would also direct the state Department of Food and Agriculture to release annual reports on the amount of foreign farmland utilized, the type of usage, and “any legislative, regulatory, or administrative policy recommendations in light of the information from the annual report.”

“This bill would prohibit a foreign government from purchasing, acquiring, leasing, or holding an interest, as defined, in agricultural land within the State of California,” the bill says..