And it was unanimous.
According to a report from The Daily Wire, House Reps. in North Carolina voted to stop China’s farmland grab; state-controlled enterprises from China and other adversarial nations cannot own land intended for agriculture or property near military bases, DW reports.
From The Daily Wire:
The bill, entitled the North Carolina Farmland and Military Protection Act, asserts that state officials have an interest to guard farmland from “the potential of adversarial foreign government control” in order to ensure a “safe, abundant, and affordable supply of food” for residents of the state and the nation. Entities in which more than half of shares are controlled by China, Russia, Cuba, North Korea, or Venezuela would also not be permitted to purchase or lease any land within 25 miles of a military installation or any agricultural land.
“As someone who grew up on a family farm, preserving North Carolina’s farmland is a top priority,” North Carolina State Rep. Jennifer Balkcom, a Republican and the primary bill sponsor for the North Carolina Farmland and Military Protection Act, said in a press release. “Our state’s agricultural land is one of our most important assets and it is common sense that we protect it from foreign governments that do not have America’s best interests in mind.”
North Carolina presently has more than 518,000 acres of farmland held by foreign entities, according to a report from the Department of Agriculture, an amount which increased by nearly 11,000 acres between 2019 and 2020. Chinese entities own slightly less than 1% of acres held by foreigners in the United States; investors from Canada meanwhile own roughly 32% of agricultural and non-agricultural land held by foreigners while citizens of other allies, such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, represent 31% of land held by foreigners.
More over at The Daily Wire:
North Carolina Lawmakers Unanimously Move To Stop Chinese Entities From Buying Up Farmland https://t.co/0FbzUNHn43 pic.twitter.com/0Rq3jI4tPt
— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) April 27, 2023