After speaking at the influential conservative CPAC conference in Washington, D.C. — where GOP frontrunner Donald Trump also appeared — MAGA Governor Kristi Noem returned to South Dakota where she will sign a bill to “block China and Evil Foreign Governments” from owning agricultural land in the Mount Rushmore State.
FANTASTIC day in the South Dakota legislature!
— Governor Kristi Noem (@GovKristiNoem) February 23, 2024
The bill to block China and Evil Foreign Governments from owning South Dakota ag land AND the bill protecting our Jewish neighbors against antisemitic hatred are BOTH on their way to my desk!
Looking forward to signing these
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Noem is following the lead taken by fellow female Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders who in April 2023 signed Act 636 which “prohibits certain foreign countries from acquiring any interest in Arkansas agricultural land, provides penalties for violations, creates the Office of Agricultural Intelligence for information analysis and enforcement.” (Sanders did not, as Noem does, specifically call out “Evil Foreign Governments.)
In October, Arkansas became the first state in the nation to order a foreign-owned company to sell agricultural land in the state. Sanders ordered Chinese-owned company Syngenta Seeds to sell approximately 160 acres of land in Craighead County. The land is worth approximately $1.12 million.
Syngenta, which is owned by the Chinese state-owned company ChemChina, has owned the land since 1988, reacted by telling the Associated Press: “Our people in Arkansas are Americans led by Americans who care deeply about serving Arkansas farmers. This action hurts Arkansas farmers more than anyone else.”
Sanders claimed that such Chinese companies operating in the U.S. send back information and technology, “stealing American research and telling our enemies how to target American farms.”
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, who is enforcing the law, said if a company doesn’t divest of the land within two years, the state can take action in court to “force” them out of Arkansas.
“There is nothing that is off limits for [China] if they think that it will strengthen them strategically,” Griffin said. “Whether it be related to engineering or the ability to feed their people, which is a challenge for them.”
Note: The U.S. Ambassador to China, R. Nicholas Burns, told Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes on Sunday that China is the largest export market for U.S. agricultural products. Agricultural exports to China from the U.S. accounted for $40.9 billion in revenue in 2022.
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