USDA unveils National Farm Security Action Plan

Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins unveiled the agency's latest effort under its Make Agriculture Great Again initiative, the National Farm Security Action Plan.

The new plan is made up of seven pillars that promise to address national agricultural security, which Rollins said is under threat, and strengthen the nation’s food and agriculture systems.

Secure and Protect American Farmland is the first goal on the list, and the one Rollins called “the most important” to secure and protect American farmland ownership.

To address the threat, it promises to do four things:

1. Implement reforms to the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) process.

2. Work alongside other government counterparts to block citizens from countries of concern from purchasing farmland.

   
   

3. Sign a memorandum of agreement with the Department of the Treasury to "ensure regular coordination with the Secretary, or designee, related to CFIUS reviews concerning covered foreign transactions that involve farmland, agricultural businesses, agriculture biotechnology, or the agriculture industry." 

4. Launch an online portal for farmers, ranchers, and others to report possible false or failed reporting and compliance with respect to AFIDA.

The U.S. Department of Defense said the actioning bill benefits it as well.

"As someone who's charged with leading the Defense Department, I want to know who owns the land around our bases and strategic bases, and getting an understanding of why foreign entities, foreign companies, foreign individuals, might be buying up land around those bases," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. "That's something I should be paying attention to, on behalf of the American people, on behalf of my department and on behalf of the president." 

Rollins also said to reporters that “too much American land is owned by nationals of adversarial countries, and more than 265,000 acres in the United States are owned by Chinese nationals, much of which is located near critical U.S. military bases"

The USDA's press release rolling out the plan also highlights last month's attempt by two Chinese citizens to smuggle a fungus classified as a "potential agroterrorism weapon," into the United States. 

Other plans listed include: Enhancing agricultural supply chain resilience, protecting U.S. nutrition safety nets, specifically SNAP, from fraud, abuse, and foreign adversaries. Enhancing research security, evaluating programs to ensure America First policies, safeguarding plant and animal health from biosecurity threats, and protecting critical infrastructure

The bill was drafted in coordination with the White House, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice, as well as state governors, state agriculture commissioners, and local, tribal, and territorial governments.