In 2021 the Fufeng Group, a Chinese food manufacturer, bought 300 acres of farmland near Grand Forks, North Dakota in order to build a milling plant. They paid 2.6 million dollars for the land. That land is only twelve miles from the Grand Forks Air Base, which is home to some of America’s most sensitive military secrets. Last year both the BBC and NPR reported that the Chinese had already purchased 380,000 acres of farmland in the United States. After the purchase of land was made near the Grand Forks Air Base, a memo circulated throughout the air base classifying the purchase as a national security threat to the United States and alleging that the purchase fits a pattern of Chinese subnational espionage campaigns seeking to use commercial economic development projects to get close to Department of Defense installations.
Nebraska is one of the states where China wants to purchase more farmland. Without going into too much detail, we have already seen nefarious Chinese characters disguised as Americans arrive in Western Nebraska with suitcases full of cash ready to purchase farmland on the spot, especially near our missile silos. One such character even tried to masquerade as the leader of a new Christian sect.
I share these things today in order to alert the public about this growing threat to our national security and to inform the good people of Western Nebraska that the Legislature is addressing the issue this year. Sen. Brian Hardin of Gering is leading the way. LB 1120 is Sen. Hardin’s personal priority bill and last week the bill was debated on the floor of the Legislature and it advanced to the next round of debate on Select File with strong support in the Legislature.
