US, states weigh farmland restrictions after Chinese balloon

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.

“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.

“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.

Enraged residents of the 59,000-person city near the Minnesota border demanded resignations from council members they claimed had tried to push through the plan, brushing off Chinese threats to national security.

“You decided, for whatever reason, this was such a fantastic thing for our city that you got blinders on,” said Dexter Perkins, a University of North Dakota geology professor. “You guys went all in when there were a gazillion unanswered questions.”

Before the Air Force's warning, officials said they weren't in a position to opine on national security matters.

Foreign entities and individuals control less than 3% of U.S. farmland, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Of that, those with ties to China control less than 1%, or roughly 600 square miles (340 square kilometers).

Yet in recent years, transactions of agricultural and non-agricultural land have attracted scrutiny, particularly in states with a large U.S. military presence.