Montana bill addresses security and foreign ownership of land

A Miles Metropolis legislator has a invoice that addresses the potential spying by different nations.

Whereas the invoice offers with overseas possession of land, Montana Sen. Ken Bogner, R-Miles Metropolis, says the current Chinese language spy balloon over Montana illustrates the necessity for the invoice.

“That is fairly an instance of precisely what I am making an attempt to stop right here with this invoice,” Bogner mentioned. “We need to stop these adversarial nations from conducting spying, espionage, having any sort of affect that we do not need to see inside our borders.”

Some had been involved concerning the Chinese language authorities’s presence in Montana even earlier than the spy balloon over Billings this week.

That features fears that Chinese language firms have been buying land and are threatening United States meals safety that has prompted some proposed laws on the state capitol.

As of the tip of 2021, China firms personal greater than 384,000 acres of agricultural land in the US., in line with the Congressional Analysis Service.

“I am lower than a half a mile away from a missile web site,’ mentioned Erik Somerfeld, a Montana Farmers Union board member. “And really my brother owned the bottom across the missile web site. There is no approach we would ever promote to any person like that.”

Sommerfeld grows wheat and barley in Energy, simply north of Nice Falls and he is a giant supporter of Montana Senate Invoice 203, launched final week.

The aim of the invoice is to ban overseas adversaries from promoting, leasing or renting vital infrastructure in Montana, together with land used for agriculture,

“Letting a overseas adversary have management over our meals provide could be very harmful,” Somerfeld mentioned.

Bogner was partly motivated to draft the laws after a Chinese language meals producer, Fufeng Group, purchased 370 acres for a corn milling plant, 12 miles from the Grand Forks Air Power Base in North Dakota.

“This actually got here to my radar from what was occurring and simply subsequent door in North Dakota, with their navy base and having Chinese language buy property proper subsequent to there,” Bogner mentioned.

In letters to Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., the U.S. Division Of The Air Power said “The proposed venture presents a major menace to nationwide safety.”

The Montana invoice’s backers say there have additionally been different examples.

In 2013, a Chinese language firm bought Smithfield meals, the most important pork producer on the planet.

And in Montana, extra land has been bought by overseas firms.

In line with the U.S. Division Of Agriculture, non-public agriculture land in Montana owned by foreigners is up from 843,178 acres and 2020 to greater than 916,269 acres in 2021.

That very same report exhibits complete overseas possession of personal agriculture land within the U.S. up from 37,595,779 acres in 2020 to 40,031,308 acres in 2021.

“There may be pause for concern for a lot of of our members,” mentioned Raylee Honeycutt, Montana Stockgrowers Affiliation government vice-president.

The Montana Stockgrowers Affiliation is one in every of a number of agriculture teams that assist the invoice and Honeycutt says she’s nervous about meals safety.

“If you happen to care concerning the safety of our nation, for those who care about meals safety, positively it is one thing that everybody needs to be taking note of,” Honeycutt mentioned concerning the invoice.

“We’ve got the U.S. Division of Commerce, telling us there are adversarial nations and to remember, and that we have to do our half to guard our borders,” Bogner mentioned. “And that is how we will do it.”

Bogner is the principle sponsor of the laws.

Federal legislation doesn’t limit the quantity of personal agricultural land that may be overseas owned, and no state has an absolute prohibition.

However legislatures in Montana and Wyoming are every contemplating payments to alter that.

“It is ensuring the individuals right here in Montana and the U.S. have the very best high quality, the most secure meals and at an inexpensive value,” Somerfeld mentioned.

As for this invoice, it is laws that was within the works lengthy earlier than the Chinese language balloon was noticed, however one that will now have much more assist due to it.