Why would we enable our enemy to personal and management probably the most helpful useful resource on this planet?

Mississippi’s agricultural land is a strategic asset offering meals safety and independence to the USA, and our farmers are a vital a part of the Nation’s cloth. Mississippi has roughly 34,700 farms that cowl 10.4 million acres and make use of 17.4% of the state’s workforce. Our crops, together with poultry, eggs, soybeans, corn, and cotton, contribute $9.72 billion to the financial system, supporting communities all through the state.

Agriculture additionally provides a approach for communities to construct and keep sturdy relationships. Many farmers are deeply rooted of their communities and take satisfaction of their work. Mississippi is house to a vibrant agricultural neighborhood that has existed for generations. In consequence, there’s a sturdy sense of satisfaction amongst farmers, who proceed to work tirelessly to supply high quality merchandise for his or her prospects. Mississippi farmers are an important a part of the state’s tradition, from the farmers’ markets to the roadside stands.

Nonetheless, there’s a menace to Mississippi agricultural land. Mississippians have to be vigilant as a result of overseas adversaries personal a major quantity of U.S. agricultural land. Allied nations, comparable to Canada, the Netherlands, and Italy, maintain massive tracts of U.S. land, which doesn’t essentially affect our nationwide safety. However, nations comparable to Communist China, which is spreading malign affect in any respect ranges of our society to undermine us, shouldn’t be allowed to amass it– particularly in Mississippi.

The Chinese language Communist Social gathering (CCP) is positioning China as an adversary of the U.S., politically and economically, with the said intention of overtaking us. Securing and dominating world meals provide chains is an integral a part of China’s Belt and Street Initiative, which additionally promotes hoarding laptop chips, minerals, and different delicate commodities. In accordance with U.S. Division of Agriculture reviews, Chinese language traders’ holdings of U.S. agricultural land surged from 13,720 acres in 2010 to 352,140 acres in 2020 — a surprising 5,300% enhance. In whole, this land is price roughly $1.9 billion. The common U.S. farm is 445 acres, so almost 800 American households might farm this acreage.

Why would we enable our enemy to personal and management probably the most helpful useful resource on this planet? All through historical past, wars have been fought, and lives misplaced over the management of land and sources. Annually, our land turns into extra helpful as our inhabitants grows. This can be a nationwide safety difficulty and meals safety difficulty, and we owe it to our youngsters and grandchildren to repair this difficulty now.

Stopping CCP management of U.S. agricultural land is feasible via legislative motion and has stood as much as constitutional muster. At the very least 12 states, together with Arizona, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, have already enacted legal guidelines successfully stopping the CCP from controlling agricultural land. At the very least six, together with Mississippi, have launched laws within the 2023 session.

Securing Mississippi’s land — America’s land — will not be a partisan difficulty. Each American needs to be involved about securing our meals provide from threats to America. In August 2022, the Democrat-supermajority California legislature handed the Meals and Farm Safety Act, which might have prohibited overseas governments from buying, buying, leasing, or holding agricultural land.

The CCP poses a novel menace to our civil society, together with our treasured land sources and meals provide. One of the best ways to safe our Nation is thru financial prosperity. Subsequently, we should fortify our provide chains and guarantee nationwide self-reliance to marginalize the CCP and its methods to subvert us. Mississippi ought to paved the way on this mission by banning the CCP and its subsidiaries from controlling the agricultural land rightfully belonging to our residents.