by Steven Richards
Senior Trump administration officials announced a plan Tuesday to protect U.S. farmland from Chinese ownership and other threats to American agricultural resources.
“Every family, every home, every community depends upon what our farmers do, and they support and sustain us, not merely by keeping us materially fed, but by keeping us spiritually strong,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said at a press conference.
“The farm’s produce is not just a commodity, it is a way of life that underpins America itself, and that’s exactly why it is under threat from criminals, from political adversaries, and from hostile regimes that understand our way of life as a profound and existential threat to themselves.”
The new plan seeks to secure U.S. farmland from adversaries like China, ensure a strong supply chain, and protect American agricultural research security – especially after recent attempts by Chinese researchers to smuggle deadly plant pathogens into the United States.
In response to this vulnerability, Rollins said that she had terminated contracts or research arrangements between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and 70 scientists who are citizens from countries of concern, like China.
Last month, two Chinese nationals working in a university laboratory in Michigan were charged for attempting to smuggle a fungus called Fusarium graminearum into the United States in 2024, Just the News reported. The fungus is classified in the scientific literature as a “potential agroterrorism weapon” because it affects wheat, barley, maize, and rice by causing “head blight,” according to the Justice Department.
A Just the News investigation found that these scientists were working for researchers at the laboratory who were receiving funding from the federal government.
She also said that her department “canceled seven active agreements with entities in foreign countries of concern.”
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Steven Richards is an investigative journalist at Just the News.
The post Trump Admin Unveils National Farm Security Action Plan on Foreign Ownership, Safeguarding Research first appeared on The Arizona Sun Times.
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Author: Just the News
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