Should NJ farms be owned by foreign countries? Sen. Doug Steinhardt says no

TRENTON - State Sen. Doug Steinhardt (R- District 23) has introduced legislation that would prohibit foreign ownership of New Jersey farmland amid rising concerns about a Chinese buying spree of American farms.

“We need to pay attention to the fact that China and its proxies have been buying up farmland across the United States,” said Steinhardt, whose district extends from Bound Brook and Bridgewater in Somerset County through northern Hunterdon County to Phillipsburg and Hackettstown in Warren County.

“When you recognize that food security is national security, it quickly becomes clear that we need to prevent our agricultural lands in New Jersey from falling under the control of hostile foreign governments,” Steinhardt said.

Steinhardt’s new legislation would prohibit any foreign government or foreign person from acquiring, purchasing, or otherwise obtaining an interest in any agricultural land in New Jersey with limited exceptions.

The bill also requires any foreign-owned farmland to be sold within five years of the bill’s enactment to an individual, trust, corporation, partnership, or other business entity that is not a foreign government or foreign person, with a deed easement requiring the land to remain devoted to agricultural use.

The Wall Street Journal highlighted last year reported that state-owned Chinese companies were spending billions to buy farmland and agricultural enterprises across the United States, including the purchase of the largest pork producer in the world, Smithfield Foods in Virginia.

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South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman, who has introduced similar legislation in the House of Representatives, said last year that China owns and controls almost 192,000 acres of farmland in the United States. He also added that it's not a huge percentage, given more than 35 million acres of farmland in the United States are owned by foreign investors.

According to the federal government, the total amount of farmland in the United States is 895 million acres.