China’s Farmland Grab

Via National Review, a short commentary on China’s efforts to dominate the world’s food supply:

China’s decade-long effort to dominate the world’s food supply has expanded beyond controlling agricultural resources in South America and Africa. Chinese purchases of American agricultural land increased 5,300 percent between 2010 and 2020, and its rate of expansion is accelerating. China now controls an estimated 350,000 acres of American farmland (alarmingly, because the Department of Agriculture doesn’t maintain a reliable tracking system, the precise extent of Chinese ownership of U.S farmland is unknown).

Interests aligned with the Chinese government have also been vacuuming up U.S. fertilizer companies, food-processing facilities, distribution networks, and chemical companies at an accelerating rate. Much of the farmland and many of the facilities also happen to be near or adjacent to sensitive U.S. military installations or critical infrastructure such as power stations, dams, and transport hubs.

Some governors and members of Congress from states with large farming industries have been sounding alarm bells with increasing urgency, but the Biden administration has shown little, if any, signs of concern. Not to worry. Clearly, they know something Congress and the rest of us don’t.



This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024 at 6:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized.  You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.  Both comments and pings are currently closed. 

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About This Blog And Its Author
Seeds Of A Revolution is committed to defining the disruptive geopolitics of the global Farms Race.  Due to the convergence of a growing world population, increased water scarcity, and a decrease in arable land & nutrient-rich soil, a spike of international investment interest in agricultural is inevitable and apt to bring a heretofore domestic industry into a truly global realm.  Whether this transition involves global land leases or acquisitions, the fundamental need for food & the protectionist feelings this need can give rise to is highly likely to cause such transactions to move quickly into the geopolitical realm.  It is this disruptive change, and the potential for a global farms race, that Seeds Of A Revolution tracks, analyzes, and forecasts.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has long held a keen interest in natural resource policy and the geopolitical implications of anticipated stresses in the areas of freshwater scarcity, biodiversity reserves & parks, and farm land.  Monty has lived, worked, and traveled in more than forty countries spanning Africa, China, western Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Southeast & Central Asia, and his personal interests comprise economic development, policy, investment, technology, natural resources, and the environment, with a particular focus on globalization’s impact upon these subject areas.  Monty writes about freshwater scarcity issues at www.waterpolitics.com and frontier investment markets at www.wildcatsandblacksheep.com.