Sunflower State News

U.S. Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas appeared on RFD-TV’s Market Day Report to discuss recent legislative efforts aimed at protecting American farmland from foreign ownership, particularly by China, and highlighted provisions in the newly signed One Big Beautiful Bill that benefit farmers and ranchers.

During the interview with Tammi Arender, Senator Marshall addressed concerns about Chinese purchases of U.S. farmland near sensitive military installations. “Tammi, it’s great to be with you, and for the last several years, we’ve been trying to scream as loud as we could that China’s buying more and more farmland in America. And it’s not just the quantity, it’s where they’re purchasing it. If you could imagine, Whiteman Air Force Base is where those B2 bombers took off and took out the Iranian nuclear facilities. The Chinese have purchased land next to that base. Same way at Fort Riley – at many of the military bases, the Chinese have purchased property.

“And beyond that, it’s the Chinese owning a significant part of Smithfield and Brazilian JBS, the meatpacking industry as well. So what we announced yesterday, the Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, who by the way is doing an incredible job, is that she’s now going to be on CFIUS. This is the committee on foreign land purchases by foreign entities. So she’ll be at that level, and then trying to decide if someone that China or their proxies are here, trying to buy land in America, that she’ll get to decide that is a national security issue. The bottom line: food security is national security.”

Marshall also discussed whether China might retaliate against these measures: “Think about this – you and I, your listeners, we cannot go to China and purchase land. We cannot go to China and make a pork processing plant. So I think it’s fair. You know, President Trump talks about fair and reciprocal trade agreements. And by the way, there’s a lot that states can do. State Governors in their legislatures can do this. Already in Arkansas, Governor Huckabee Sanders is actually buying back this land that the Chinese have purchased. And not only has she banned future purchases, but she’s actually forcing them to sell land as well – sometimes the states can move a little bit quicker than the federal government can.”

He outlined key elements from One Big Beautiful Bill designed to support agriculture: “Tammi, I’m so proud we did almost a whole farm bill within this reconciliation bill. We allocate $50 billion more for crop insurance as well as the Title I funding. We increased the reference prices, so we funded that for the next five years, and we’ll take that off the table as we go forward with the rest of the Farm Bill. The crop insurance is the backbone of every Farm Bill.

“But beyond that, even more, I think about beyond the reference prices… we also got the 199A pass-through for all those folks, farmers that are part of co-ops, we got that taken care of. Bonus depreciation, writing off interest, all those things are so important to go buy this million-dollar combine in today’s world, to be able to write that off with bonus depreciation is a big game changer.

“We doubled the death tax exemption to over $30 million so we doubled the tax exemptions so you don’t have to sell a fourth of your farm to pass it on to future generations as well. And don’t forget; we got 45Z done in this as well. I think the 45Z market for taking commodities turning into jet fuel; I think that could be bigger—maybe four or five times bigger than the entire ethanol industry right now. So huge wins for farmers.”

Looking ahead at future legislation affecting agriculture policy such as soil health initiatives under discussion with Secretary Kennedy and Rollins: “There’s a lot of division up here right now...I hope so...I think even next week; we're going working with Secretary Kennedy and Rollins talking about soil health...part of improving soil health is going cost money...we're trying work on farm bill especially Conservation component...hopefully sort out this fall.”