The Trump administration has long had as one of its goals to increase protection of one of our nation's most vital interests: Farmland. Without farmland and the farms that work on those lands, we literally do not eat.
I come from a long line of farmers. My Dad farmed for much of his life. My maternal grandfather farmed a small "century farm" that had been homesteaded by his family before the Civil War. My paternal grandfather farmed as a young man. Farming is important, and so is protecting our farmlands.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Brook Rollins, appeared with host Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business's Morning with Maria to explain how this is being done.
.@SecRollins on @USDA's Farm Security Action Plan to stop the purchasing of American farmland by foreign adversaries: "It's just another step in the right direction... we're going to keep fighting for our American farmers and ranchers." pic.twitter.com/L9EBYu7eiE
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 11, 2026
Secretary Rollins said:
In just about an hour, Secretary Hegseth is coming over to USDA, we'll be hosting an event, doing a press conference, and signing a memorandum of understanding that an unprecedented effort to ensure that our departments are working together. I appreciate that you've always been so great to let me come on and talk about how farm security is national security, that before President Trump came into office, the consolidation of our farmland, the foreign adversarial ownership of our farmland, especially from China and other places, has really been creeping up on our country. Now we have almost 300,000 acres owned by China.
Of course, a lot of our food supply and food sources are now foreign, come from foreign sources, and we're working to reverse that while at the same time protecting our farmers, protecting our farmland from our foreign adversaries. It's just another step in the right direction. I'm so proud of Secretary Hegseth. He has leaned all in on this, as has the president, and we're going to keep fighting for our American farmers and ranchers.
Why involve the War Department, we may very well ask? Because a lot of the agricultural land being bought up by Chinese interests is mysteriously near major military bases and other sensitive installations. That's a matter of serious concern; this is about a lot more than food production. It's about intelligence-gathering. It's a near-certainty that these lands are being used to surveil the military bases and other installations they border on. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, ask them if they have any bridges for sale.
Read More: USDA Announces Plan to Secure America's Vital Farmlands
Who Are Your Neighbors? Chinese Buyers Are Purchasing More Than US Farmland
The United States is fortunate to have some of the best farmlands in the world, from the East Coast to California's Central Valley. We can grow a wide variety of crops, and as a bonus, we have vast expanses of grassland ideally suited for grazing livestock. Preventing purchase by agents of a government not friendly to the United States (that's a long-winded way of saying "China") should be a priority. Of course, there are ways to shield such purchases, to hide them behind a phalanx of agents and shell companies, but that doesn't mean the effort shouldn't be made.
Secretary Rollins is correct; we need to protect and preserve our farmlands, and that doesn't mean just implementing good soil-management practices. It's a matter of our nation's physical health - and national security.
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