Controversial Chinese Corn Mill in North Dakota

Residents of Grand Forks, North Dakota, are wondering about the next steps for a Chinese company's proposed corn mill after a federal committee concluded that it doesn't have jurisdiction over the foreign land purchase despite the proximity to an Air Force base.

Fufeng USA recently released a letter from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) stating that the committee of government officials had concluded that "it has no jurisdiction to review" Fufeng's 370-acre purchase of land about 12 miles from Grand Forks Air Force Base. The CFIUS group made this determination after the project had been under its review since at least mid-September.

According to the Grand Forks Herald, Fufeng USA released a statement that the company is pleased with the outcome of the CFIUS review and looks forward to building its planned $700-million, 25-million-bushel corn mill plant on the site.

Fufeng is headquartered in China and is known as a producer of various corn starch products and food additives made from corn.

The CFIUS decision will likely fuel more focus on trying to place a representative from USDA on the interagency committee, an issue that has been raised multiple times over the past decade as Chinese companies bought Smithfield Foods and Syngenta.

Still, Fufeng, in an email to Grand Forks officials, said the "second phase of the CFIUS review" was led by the Departments of Defense, Treasury and Agriculture. Fufeng added CFIUS would not be taking any further action on the project.

City officials told the Grand Forks Herald they would now restart some of the work on the Fufeng project that had been on hold since September. That includes more details on planning and design work.

North Dakota's U.S. senators each expressed concern about the CFIUS decision.

"The Chinese Communist Party should not be allowed to purchase land near our military bases. It is dangerous and dumb," Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, stated. "Congress mandated that CFIUS protect America's national security, and that should be its first priority, not making it easier for Chinese businesses, with ties to Beijing, to operate in the United States."

Opponents of the project were surprised by the decision. Since last year, at least some Grand Forks residents have pushed for a citywide vote on the project.

"It's not approval, it's not a green light, it's not a go-ahead, it's that they don't have the jurisdiction," said Jodi Carlson, an opponent of the project, on WDAY TV in Fargo, North Dakota. "So, there could be grave national security risks."

China, according to USDA, owns just over 352,000 acres, or less than 1% of foreign-held land. Forestry makes up about half of foreign-owned farmland, though cropland has taken off since 2018 and now accounts for about 11 million acres. Pasture accounts for about 7 million acres.

This past year, lawmakers have introduced more bills that would require more USDA accounting of foreign ownership. Representatives. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, and Rick Crawford, R-AR, introduced the Agricultural Foreign Investment Transparency Act in the House that likely will draw more attention now that Republicans have taken control of the chamber.

EDITOR’S TAKE:

The issue of foreign ownership of U.S. companies and farmland has been on the back burner since the 1980’s. Only recently has it gained more attention - primarily as a result of the COVID pandemic along with rising tensions and distrust of China’s leaders. It is becoming clearer that China wants to dominate the global economy and be a super power. What is also clear is they have little reservation about using any means possible to attain that goal. This latest purchase certainly does nothing to dampen suspicions and fears over their intentions. It is controversial and has raised the importance of this policy discussion to a much higher level. We trust, with this latest development, this issue will get the serious attention it deserves.