Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Tuesday announced an executive order that bans ownership of agricultural land by foreign adversaries within 10 miles of what the state calls “critical military facilities” and puts the purchase of any agricultural land by foreign entities under greater scrutiny. 

State statutes currently limit foreign farmland ownership to 1% of state farmland. According to the Missouri Department of Agricutlure, 0.23% is held by foreign owners as of Dec. 31. 2022. But China’s rising influence and last year’s spectacle of a Chinese spy balloon flying over the state renewed security concerns and bipartisan interest in legislative proposals on the issue at both the state and federal level.

What You Need To Know

  • The Executive Order bans the ownership of agricultural land by foreign adversaries with 10 miles of "critical military facilities", but the order does not publicly define what constitutes a critical military facility. The state is home to Whiteman Air Force Base, Fort Leonard Wood, Rosencans Air National Guard Base and 65 National Guard armories and training facilities

  • The order also establishes a state agriculture department review of “all proposed acquisitions of agricultural land by aliens or foreign businesses” in Missouri

  • Current state law restricts foreign ownership of agricultural farmland to 1% and state officials say that as of Dec. 31, 2022, that figure stood at .23%

  • Parson warned lawmakers who seek to pass legislation that would ban ownership by allied foreign interests, citing nearly 150,000 jobs in Missouri connected to foreign-owned Missouri based businesses.

 

The order names the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency West in St. Louis, Whiteman Air Force Base, Fort Leonard Wood, Rosencrans Air National Guard Base and the state’s 65 National Guard armories and training facilities as being “crucial to the security of the state and nation” but does not otherwise define “critical military facilities”. Parson declined to do so at a news conference outside his office at the State Capitol, although he suggested the figure could be in the hundreds.

The order also establishes a state agriculture department review of “all proposed acquisitions of agricultural land by aliens or foreign businesses” in Missouri.

State lawmakers debated measures in the 2023 General Assembly that would have lowered the legal limit of foreign ownership of farmland to less than 1%, banned land ownership connected to certain foreign countries and would have prevented any future land purchases from foreign entities. Nothing reached the Governor’s desk.

“If I had the authority, we wouldn't just be talking about banning farmland but all commercial properties by foreign adversaries regardless of rural or urban because a commercial building in our urban area in the hands of adversaries poses just as much if not more of a threat to our security interests than a rural farm,” Parson said Tuesday.

But Parson cautioned that some of the legislative proposals are “performative” for political purposes and would do economic harm, citing nearly 150,000 jobs supported by foreign-owned Missouri businesses.

“If we start banning every purchase of farmland by any foreign individual or businesses, then where does this end? Because I want to remind Missourians and especially legislators that foreign investments by friendly nations brings billions of dollars and thousands of jobs to our state,” he said.

“I’m targeting adversaries. We’ve had a relation for decades with companies from Israel, from Germany. I don’t think you want to be sending a message out there at all saying we don’t want you to come here to our state and be a partner with us,” Parson added.