Montana Bans Foreign Adversaries From Buying Farmland
May 4th, 2023

Via Montana State Government, an announcement of a new rule prohibiting countries like China and Russia from buying farmland:

Governor Greg Gianforte today prohibited the sale or lease of Montana ag land, critical infrastructure, and homes near military assets by Montana entities to foreign adversaries.

“Montana will not stand idly by as foreign adversaries buy up our farmland, harvest private data, and spy on Americans,” Gov. Gianforte said. “Today, we’re doing what the Biden administration won’t to defend our economic security, food security, and national security assets.”

The ban, which applies to foreign adversaries and corporations headquartered within those nations, goes into effect later this year following the governor’s signature today of Senate Bill 203, sponsored by Sen. Ken Bogner, R-Miles City.

The new law defines foreign adversaries as “any foreign government or foreign nongovernment person determined by the U.S. secretary of commerce to have engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of the people of the United States.”

It applies to corporations headquartered within and the governments of China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chinese ownership of farmland in the United States multiplied by 20-fold from 2010 to 2020. In 2010, China owned $81 million in assets of land in the United States, and in 2020, those holdings had increased to $1.8 billion.

The signing of this bill into law comes just months after a Chinese spy balloon infiltrated United States airspace and flew over critical national security assets in Montana.

“From the spy balloon to CCP-linked companies buying American farmland to the Chinese Communist Party spying on Americans through TikTok, now is the time for bold, decisive action to defend our national interests. If the federal government won’t protect America from Communist China and hostile adversaries, Montana will,” Gov. Gianforte said.


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About This Blog And Its Author
Seeds Of A Revolution is committed to defining the disruptive geopolitics of the global Farms Race.  Due to the convergence of a growing world population, increased water scarcity, and a decrease in arable land & nutrient-rich soil, a spike of international investment interest in agricultural is inevitable and apt to bring a heretofore domestic industry into a truly global realm.  Whether this transition involves global land leases or acquisitions, the fundamental need for food & the protectionist feelings this need can give rise to is highly likely to cause such transactions to move quickly into the geopolitical realm.  It is this disruptive change, and the potential for a global farms race, that Seeds Of A Revolution tracks, analyzes, and forecasts.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has long held a keen interest in natural resource policy and the geopolitical implications of anticipated stresses in the areas of freshwater scarcity, biodiversity reserves & parks, and farm land.  Monty has lived, worked, and traveled in more than forty countries spanning Africa, China, western Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Southeast & Central Asia, and his personal interests comprise economic development, policy, investment, technology, natural resources, and the environment, with a particular focus on globalization’s impact upon these subject areas.  Monty writes about freshwater scarcity issues at www.waterpolitics.com and frontier investment markets at www.wildcatsandblacksheep.com.