Missouri Governor Mike Parson issued an executive order on Tuesday preventing foreign adversaries from purchasing agricultural land within close proximity to military bases in the state. The move seeks to bar entities originating in China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela from purchasing land within a 10-mile radius of Missouri’s military facilities.
“With heightened concerns regarding ownership of Missouri farm land by foreign adversaries, especially China, we are signing this order to safeguard our military and intelligence assets, prevent security threats to our state, and give Missourians greater peace of mind,” Parson said. “When it comes to China and other foreign adversaries, we must take commonsense precautions that protect Missourians and our security resources.”
Parson further emphasized that none of America’s foreign adversaries would be permitted to purchase Missouri’s farmland as Chinese entities currently own roughly 42,596 acres in the state. “I further declare that no Missouri agricultural land shall be acquired or owned by an alien or foreign business who is a citizen, resident, or incorporated under the laws of a foreign adversary,” he said.
Parson also noted the order’s intention of securing economic relationships with America’s existing allies. “Missouri must remain open for business to our allies,” the governor said. “As such, we believe this order, with the authority we have, sufficiently protects Missouri’s security interests from potential bad actors while not punishing our allies for being good economic partners or upstanding individuals fleeing oppression and coming to our nation legally in search of a better life.”
As countries such as China increasingly pose as adversaries on the global stage, other states in the U.S. are taking legislative action similar to Missouri’s. The American Tribune reported last year on a Michigan township that took action to prevent a Chinese-based company, Gotion, from purchasing farmland.
Former Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon criticized the Biden administration for permitting such a land grab to occur in her state. “The Biden administration said it was OK,” Dixon said. “And yes, it should concern people that this Democrat governor came out and courted this company and then signed non-disclosure agreements around this.”
“They could find out that there was no environmental review of this company. They could also find out that there are direct ties to the Chinese Communist Party…” Dixon continued, “And they were even able to fight the township board that would have circumvented the system and voted to have this property rezoned had the residents not come out informed and demanded a referendum and had a local vote on that.”
Residents of the Green Charter Township celebrated the prevention of Gotion’s purchase, but noted there is still more work to do in protecting American farmland from foreign adversarial nations. “We’ve got a small win here,” said Lori Brock, a resident who protested against the Chinese company’s land purchase. “It was because we didn’t get any help from Michigan, but we called the federal EPA, and the federal EPA came up here and they and they got back some of the land for us.”
