“Farm security is national security,” declared U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins, as she unveiled a sweeping National Farm Security Action Plan at a press conference on July 8, 2025. Flanked by Trump adviser Peter Navarro, several governors, and key Cabinet officials, Rollins rolled out the most aggressive federal effort in decades to curb foreign ownership of U.S. farmland and shield the agricultural sector from national-security threats, particularly those posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The USDA’s announcement follows a February 2025 directive from President Trump, who ordered the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to expand its reviews of Chinese investments in sectors deemed vital to national interest, including agriculture and food processing.
At the heart of the new initiative is a ban on future purchases of farmland by Chinese entities and a review of existing land acquisitions by foreign nationals, particularly those near U.S. military installations. Secretary Rollins made clear that the USDA would work with the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense to “terminate land contracts, revoke research grants, and even claw back land purchases” where national security is threatened.
Coordinating with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the plan outlines the following:
The policy shift responds to the alleged steady increase in foreign-held farmland across the United States in the last decade. According to the most recent USDA Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) data, foreign interests held nearly 45 million acres of U.S. agricultural land as of the end of 2023, which is approximately 3.5 percent of all privately held farmland. That marks a 40-percent increase since 2016 and a 50-percent jump from 2011, according to testimony from David L. Ortega, Ph.D. before the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry on September 27, 2023.
Although the largest holders include allies like Canada (31 percent or 12.8 million acres) and the Netherlands (4.9 million acres), many are now focusing on acquisitions by China, which Ortega says owns approximately 383,934 acres across 26 states, or about “1 percent of all foreign-owned agricultural land in the U.S.” Notably, foreign ownership of private land in Maine is relatively high: 20.1 percent of the state’s private land (mostly forestland) is primarily under Canadian ownership.
China’s land acquisitions might seem small in absolute terms, but some of these properties are located near sensitive military bases or critical infrastructure, a concern Secretary Hegseth underscored during Tuesday’s press conference. A map of Chinese-owned farmland located near military installations appears in the USDA’s “Farm Security is National Security” summary report released on Tuesday:
In 2022, the Chinese-based Fufeng Group sought to build a corn-milling plant just miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota, sparking a national outcry. In the wake of that controversy, about two dozen states enacted restrictions on foreign ownership of farmland, with additional legislation pending in Congress. Earlier in 2013, China’s WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods, the largest U.S. pork producer.
According to the National Agricultural Law Center, approximately 26 states “have laws that seek to restrict to some degree foreign ownership or investments in private agricultural land within the boundaries of their state.” No state, however, imposes “an absolute prohibition on foreign ownership.”
Despite growing bipartisan concern, federal oversight has lagged, according to a January 2024 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Investigators found that the USDA does not systematically share AFIDA filings with the CFIUS, the entity that reviews transactions for national security risks. GAO also criticized USDA for poor data quality, outdated record-keeping, and enforcement failures under AFIDA.
The new USDA action plan seeks to remedy these lapses by tightening disclosure requirements, coordinating with CFIUS, and significantly expanding the Department’s authority to investigate and unwind risky land deals. Until today’s announcement, the USDA secretary did not sit on the CFIUS board. However, during the press conference, Rollins announced she has been asked to join the board going forward. She pledged to refer violations to the Department of Justice for prosecution. Although no DOJ indictments have publicly targeted foreign farmland ownership, recent cases have involved Chinese nationals smuggling biological materials and pathogens into the U.S., raising fears of agricultural sabotage or biosecurity breaches.
The initiative also targets foreign-funded researchers at land-grant universities and agricultural extension programs. USDA will immediately begin terminating contracts or grants with research institutions that partner with entities from “countries of concern,” including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. While the move is likely to spark debate in academia, Rollins argues that it is necessary to prevent the “intellectual theft and infiltration of our food systems.”
Critics worry about overreach, data transparency, and the risk of economic retaliation. However, proponents argue that the core issue is safeguarding America’s food supply and sovereignty. As Secretary Noem stated, “the Chinese Communist Party should not be allowed to own one square inch of American soil — especially not farmland near our missile silos and fighter bases.”
Beyond regulatory reforms, the USDA will begin conducting joint vulnerability assessments with the Department of Defense and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), focusing on threats to agricultural infrastructure and supply chains. The plan also introduces stiffer penalties for noncompliance with foreign ownership disclosure laws and a pledge to modernize USDA enforcement tools.
Congress is expected to debate several bills this summer, including the bipartisan FARMLAND Act, which would codify parts of the plan and impose stricter screening for foreign buyers.
Rollins framed the new USDA plan as a necessary evolution of U.S. national security doctrine. “We used to think of national defense in terms of missiles and satellites,” she said. “But now we know that fertilizer, farmland, and food are just as critical.”
Image: Kristi Noem. Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.