U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa), fifth from right, pictured at Dysart’s Tama-Benton Cooperative on Tuesday, Oct. 22, during her agriculture roundtable. Hinson welcomed several area lawmakers to the event including Tama County Sheriff Dennis Kucera (R-Traer; fourth from left), state Rep. Derek Wulf (R-Hudson; in cowboy hat), state Sen. Dan Zumbach (R-Ryan; sixth from right), Iowa Sec. of Agriculture Mike Naig (fourth from right), and state Sen. Annette Sweeney (R-Iowa Falls; third from right). Tama-Benton Cooperative general manager Ben Schemmel, second from left, and Youngblut Ag owner Pete Younblut, far right, were also in attendance. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

DYSART – U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) held a roundtable in Dysart on Tuesday, Oct. 22, welcoming Iowa Sec. of Agriculture Mike Naig, area farmers, and several elected officials to Tama-Benton Cooperative to discuss what she feels is America’s greatest national asset – agriculture.

“Iowa is home to the most productive and fertile soil in the world,” Hinson posted on social media following the event. “I hosted a roundtable with [Mike Naig] and [Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District] farmers to discuss the importance of preventing the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) and our adversaries from buying up another acre of our farmland. Food security is national security.”

Elected officials in attendance on Tuesday included Naig, state Rep. Derek Wulf (R-Hudson), retiring Tama County Sheriff Dennis Kucera (R-Traer), state Sen. Dan Zumbach (R-Ryan), and state Sen. Annette Sweeney (R-Iowa Falls). It should be noted, Sweeney no longer represents Dysart in the statehouse following redistricting; Dysart is now part of District 38 which is represented by Democrat Eric Giddens. When reached by the newspaper, Sen. Giddens said he did not receive an invitation to the roundtable. Giddens’ opponent in the Nov. 5 election – Republican Dave Sires of Cedar Falls – also did not appear to be in attendance at the event.

Hinson began her prepared remarks – which were shared with the newspaper – by harkening back to local events which took place in 2011 but have since had international repercussions.

“Ten years ago in Iowa, Chinese spies were caught digging up seeds out of the ground to reverse engineer in China,” Hinson said. “Since then, they’ve been buying up our ag land, gaining control of the food supply chain, and stealing ag technology innovation – all while distorting the market with unfair trade practices.”

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Back in August of 2023, Hinson made a similar stop in Dysart, hosting a roundtable discussion with former U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.). The trio hosted the roundtable at Dysart’s Youngblut Ag building as part of their work on the House Select Committee on the CCP.

“American agriculture is our greatest national asset, an asset China can’t naturally compete with,” Hinson continued on Tuesday. “We can’t sign our food security over to Communist China. We have been asleep at the wheel as Communist China has strategically bought more and more U.S. farmland, including near U.S. military bases. Fortunately, Iowa has long been leading on this issue. We have laws on the books to prevent foreign ag acquisition in our state. This strong state law needs to be coupled with a better federal strategy to prevent our adversaries from buying up U.S. ag land.”

She went on to cite legislation she recently cosponsored including the bipartisan AFIDA Improvements Act of 2024 which would amend the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) of 1978 by establishing an additional reporting requirement.

According to the Farm Service Agency, AFIDA established a nationwide system for the collection of information pertaining to foreign ownership in U.S. agricultural land. Under the legislation, foreign investors who acquire, transfer, or hold an interest in U.S. agricultural land are required to report such holdings and transactions to the Secretary of Agriculture.

“To build on these efforts, I have backed the No American Land for Communist China Act to prevent the CCP from purchasing land adjacent to federally owned land,” Hinson said. “This bill would prohibit any agent of the CCP, or any business owned by the CCP, from purchasing land adjacent to federal land in the U.S. This protects our military installations, national labs, and land with critical resources from being purchased by our greatest adversary.”

She went on to describe China’s acquisition of American land as an “intentional land grab” designed to “gain access to national security information and exert control over our food supply chain.”

According to a report by Iowa Public Radio published in June of 2023, Chinese companies and investors own 383,934 acres of land in the United States – none, at the time of IPR’s reporting, is located in Iowa. Chinese corporations also own several major food companies in the U.S. including Smithfield Foods which has locations in Iowa.

In June of 2023, The Gazette newspaper published an investigative report titled “Who owns Iowa farmland? In many cases, it’s not farmers.” According to the newspaper – which spent four months digging through county assessor records in all 99 of Iowa’s counties as part of the investigation – The Deseret Trust, an investing arm of the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), owns at least 22,000 acres of Iowa farmland (some in Tama County), while a Tennessee family owns at least 5,000 acres of land in Iowa under at least 10 different names.

“Despite Iowa’s farming heritage, more than half of Iowa farmland is owned by someone who doesn’t farm,” The Gazette reported.

Hinson ended her formal remarks on Tuesday by stating, “Land is a finite resource, and our adversaries should not be able to buy up another acre of American farmland. I will continue working to protect our food security and our national security from Communist China’s land grab. I look forward to today’s conversation about protecting our food supply from the malign influence of the CCP.”