Screenshot of NewsNation segment including interview with Rep. Ashley Hinson on China's involvement in American agriculture
Rep. Ashley Hinson’s (R-Iowa) bill to create new reporting requirements points at the significance of Chinese involvement in the supply chain of American agriculture.
H.R. 8003 has been reported out of the agriculture committee. The text is here.
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to publish, on an annual basis, an assessment on United States dependency on critical agricultural products or inputs from the People’s Republic of China, and for other purposes.
H.R. 8003
Importantly, it requires reporting on these *critical inputs*:
c) Critical Inputs.—The critical inputs specified in this subsection shall include all farm management, agronomic, and field-applied production inputs, including each of the following:
(1) Agricultural equipment, machinery, and technology.
(4) Feed, including its components, such as vitamins, amino acids, and minerals.
(5) Veterinary drugs and vaccines.
(6) Crop protection chemicals.
(7) Seed.
H.R. 8003
Oddly, both the NewsNation segment and the segment on Fox News lead with a graphic showing the states and the number of total acres, 347 thousand, owned by the CCP or a closely held CCP company. NewsNation reports that 100K of these acres are attributable to Smithfield Farms, a pork producing giant based in Virginia.
USDA reported in 2021, that US farmland consisted of more than 895 million acres. So it is not about the gross acreage. The story is about the critical inputs. We’ve heard elsewhere about important industrial inputs, such as rare earths mined in California being shipped to China for processing.
Monkton will follow this story.
China is concerned about its food security. Lack of farmland has led them to using strategies such as pig farm apartment buildings. Eating pork is a marker of basic wealth for Chinese families. The good news for the USA is that our pig farms can’t be as easily appropriated as our technical and military secrets.
But, what does American agriculture depend on in the world market?
