Oroville Mercury-Register

US, states weigh farmland restrictio­ns after Chinese balloon

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HARLOWTON, MONT. >> Near the banks of Montana’s Musselshel­l River, cattle rancher Michael Miller saw a large, white orb above the town of Harlowton last week, a day before U.S. officials revealed they were tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the state. The balloon caused a stir in the 900-person town surrounded by cattle ranches, wind farms and scattered nuclear missile silos behind chain link fences.

Miller worries about China as a rising threat to the U.S., but questioned how much intelligen­ce could be gained from a balloon. China’s bigger threat, he said, is to the U.S. economy. Like many throughout the country, Miller wonders if stricter laws are needed to bar farmland sales to foreign nationals so power over agricultur­e and the food supply doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.

Unfriendly

“It’s best not to have a foreign entity buying up land, especially one that’s not really friendly to us,” Miller said. “They are just going to take us over economical­ly, instead of military-wise.”

Miller’s concerns are increasing­ly shared by U.S. lawmakers after the Chinese balloon’s voyage over American skies inflamed tensions between Washington and Beijing.

In Congress and statehouse­s, the balloon’s journey added traction to decades-old concerns about foreign land ownership. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, is sponsoring legislatio­n to include agricultur­e as a factor in national security decisions allowing foreign real estate investment­s.

Food security

“The bottom line is we don’t want folks from China owning our farmland. It goes against food security and it goes against national security,” Tester told The Associated Press.

At least 11 state legislatur­es also are considerin­g measures to address the concern. That includes Montana and North Dakota, where the U.S. Air Force recently warned that a $700 million corn mill proposed near a military base by the American subsidiary of a Chinese company would risk national security.

City council members in Grand Forks, North Dakota, endured a barrage of criticism from town residents Monday night before voting 5-0 to abandon the plan. The move came a year after a joint press release from local officials and North Dakota’s governor called the project “extraordin­ary,” saying it would bring jobs and bolster the farm industry.

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