State Senate backs plan to limit China's ownership of farmland in Missouri (2024)

JEFFERSON CITY — Months after a Chinese spy balloon made a jarring journey over the U.S., the Missouri Senate has approved legislation limiting foreign ownership of agricultural land.

As part of a bipartisan effort in both the House and Senate, the legislation would reduce the current 1% of Missouri farmland that can be owned by foreign entities to 0.5%. The bill also prohibits a foreign entity from acquiring agricultural land in the state after Aug. 28, 2023.

The measure, approved Monday on a 31-3 vote, now returns to the House for further debate.

Under the proposal, all foreign entities would be required to report future sales, acquisitions or land transfers to the Missouri attorney general and secretary of state’s offices.

“We’re not going to allow for foreign ownership in the state of Missouri,” said Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, who handled the measure in the Senate. “We have to draw a line in the sand today. It protects our sovereignty as a nation.”

Not everyone was on board.

Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, argued that the proposed law would unfairly limit landowners from selling their property.

“I’m just a little lost here today as to how we have transformed this conversation of foreign entities owning our properties into the removal of individual rights,” Hough said. “I don’t want to disenfranchise property owners.”

“You’re trying to muddy the waters,” Brattin said in response.

The push to limit foreign ownership of farmland in Missouri has been under consideration for the past five years as China has increasingly become viewed as an aggressor more than a trade ally. It gained renewed momentum following the balloon incident, during which a massive inflated surveillance vehicle hovered over Missouri for a time, and was then shot down by a military strike off the coast of South Carolina days later.

And the ownership issue has become political fodder in the 2024 race for governor. Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who is running for the post, weighed in after the vote.

“I am grateful for the efforts of both chambers who participated in moving this forward,” the Republican said in a statement. “This bill forbids foreign companies and known enemies of the United States — countries like China — who do not have our best interest in mind, from buying agricultural land in Missouri. Regulating foreign land ownership is necessary to better protect Missourians.”

The proposal is a reversal of a 2013 change in law that paved the way for Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods to own property in the state.

The measure is opposed by influential and well-funded lobbying groups in Missouri, including the Missouri Association of Realtors and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Like Hough, the trade groups said government should stay out of the way of private business transactions.

The bill also would prohibit five countries from owning any land in Missouri, including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. More countries could be added under an ongoing review process laid out in the bill.

A Missouri Department of Agriculture analysis found that the state total of foreign-owned agriculture land is 0.36%, with China owning an estimated 42,596 acres, and New Zealand owning 16,271 acres. No land in Missouri is currently owned by Iran, Russia, Venezuela or North Korea.