america. that major problem. i interrupted, other thoughts on that topic? mr. tom: in terms of africa. we mutt re money and we don't ak anything in return. china will always go in and do something, whether the world bank came in and gave a loan to a certain particular nation, they default on that loan, china comes in and creates a tkefbg spiral on it. then they end up getting that the country has, taking on the loan at a very big discount. we have a threat of them contuihey go to a nation. we ask for nothing. mr. johnson: thank you very much. i wish i had another five minutes but my time is running low, mr. chairman. would yield. mr. thompson: the gentleman yields back. the committee stands in recess to immediately -- until immediately after casting [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] ■<

mr. thompson: -- thankful thankl for your tolerance with the recess we did for the three-vote series. now pleased to rec connecticut, congresswoman hayes, for five minutes. mrs. hayes: thank you, mr. chairman. over the past few decades, china has significantlyro political influence, especially in the agricultural sector. the belt and road initiative is a massive china-led infrastructure project that aims to stretch around the globe. the project has expanded to africa, oceaniana and latin america in the decadesce according to the american enterprise institute, china global investment tracker, $77 billion in foreign agricultural products between 2013 and 2023. currently,83ple across the globe are facing reason toic hunger and growing more and more dependent on the agricultural structures

developed by china. during your time with united nations agencies, you saw firsthand the importance of global food security. why is it united states, rather than china, to leads the world in solving global food security? lt participation -- first of all, i served the state department, the united states -- the president of the united states. i didn't work for the world food m but i had oversight over them. to answer your question, i understand why the chinese are doing whathe improve their food. i mean, i think they've been through the last century a couple of famines that havehere famines can turn governments around. french revolution and there's one happening in russia, obviously. and many others. but the reality is they are going to continue to invest and they want to make sure that they

capture as much u.s. to accomplish their goals as they can. and they don't want to pay for it. mrs. hayes: so what are some best practices that we can employ to build trusting relationships with other countrys? mr. tom: i think what we've got to do is, first of all, i believe we need to divsi trading partners. that's one thing we need to do. best practices would also include making sure that we have the foreignice, the usda, representing all of our agriculture commodities and products, travel the world and make sure we continue■ products here. mrs. hayes: thank you. our leadership at the international level depends on our relationships with our allies and those w■iho look to s for guidance. i've long been a supporter for programs like food for progress. if these programs and collaborations with developing countries were underfunded, can

we expect role? mr. tom: no, they will not. if you look at funding from china aoo issues, on one hand they'll tell you they're the second largest economy in the world. on the other hand, they' say dee can't contribute to solving world hunger. the u.s. plays anywhere from 40% to 06% of the world food program budget a year ago was around $14 billion. if we can do anything, we need to create resilience and capacity in food steate sector. not the u.n. organizations. the private sector holds the i.p., the knowledge, the pa financially and the ability to improve food systems and that's where we really need to support growth in food systems. mrs. hayes: thank y the last pai listened to the last panel and this panel as well and i think one thing is clear. we have to discuss■■foo nationay

conversation. anyone who has watched this committee for more than 30 seconds knows that hunger, food security, feeding program, those are issues that are near and dear to me and they're not just about charitable responses. it literally is national security. so i thank you all for being here today. mr. chair, i yield back. mr. thompson: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. now pleased to recognize the gentlelady fromllinoi mrs. miller: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you all for being here today. i'm so glad to see that this topic is getting the attention th deserves. so, last year at the beginning of congress, the first bill i introduced was to ban china and our advsaries f■úrom purchasing u.s. farmland. i'm extremely concerned about the loss of production agriculture in the united st farmland to solar panels because of the green bad deal and our adversaries are buying up our ms

extremely important to me that we're preserving the family farm for the nex not letting china buy our farmland and -- or covering it with solar panels. ambassador tom, i know you're nce in africa, especially in their agriculture industry. can you talk more about how you see this as a threat to the u s? mr. tom: yeah. i see it as a threat in a number of ways. obviously, you know, we want to as much chinese ownership of our land as we can. we need to make sure that there's many ways that they can have the ownership of this lands that hides the identity of who actually is involved in that process. we need to do a better job. to accomplish that.usda has the to your point, we've lost 150 million acresf the

united states since the early 1980's. 150 million. today we're losing at the rate of almost 1800 acres an hour.ine stimulus bills that came out. but i also look at this. i look at the -- how much land the as well. so we need to make sure that the american farmers still have access to the land that we need to have to produce the food, fiber and energy, not only for the united states, but for the world. mrs. miller: absolutely. i want to say that i'm here represent food production and to defend our ability to feed ourselves. do you think this poses a sector as china's actions in africa also allows them to monopolize critical mineral production? mr. tom: i've seen it all across africa. a year ago i was in the sure dan and we saw -- i was in the sudan, and we saw the wagner group, we saw traveled extensivy

throughout africa and that theme continued everywhere i went. the conditions people were working in, the mining of■4hinkl like 65%, 07% of those critical minerals. and of course tack them back to sell them to the united states as solar panels. we just lost 600 acres this past win panels. it has to stop. we're sinking as much carbon as those solar panels are probably changing the climate. so we need to pay attention. mrs. miller: i also have a bill to prohibit solar panels from going on class a and class b farm ground. do you think that the left's push for, quote, more green energy is making reliant on china since we need critical minerals to produce solar panels? mr. tom: there's no question. that's all part of it. the thing is, i think what we

are the costs to implement these policies, to bring green energy to the united states? you know, it comes at a obvioust solar panel fields, wind turbines, all these different things. i'm all about saving the environment. i'm all about doing what we cann today. but the reality is, not only are we going to pay through this through incentives to put these solar f but at the same time that energy is going to be much more expensive. whether it's energy or food, these climate initiatives are going to be costs and energy costs and it will affect those that can least afford it the most. mrs. miller: and everything goes back tone record is terrible. we don't need to do things to strengthen them and we all know that they're opening a coal-fired while we're being driven to these policies that make energy unaffordable and unreliable takr

productive farm ground out of production. this is a critical national security issue ande cannot let china take control of our farm ground for our energy sector. thank you so much.ompson: the gy yields back the balance of her time. now pleased to recognize dr. adams for five minutes. ms. adams: thank you, chairman thompson, and also to ranking member, to our witnesses, thank you very much. from both panels, actually. we had an earlier panel. i do want to get clear on one theufpblgt because i worry -- because i worry that we're getting our timelines wrong. the tenor of today's testimonies seem to suggest that china's entry into the u.s farmland market was the beginning of agricultural consolidation and small farm, he collusion -- of e concentration in the food system are missing from the conversation. a brittle bottleneck food supp was the norm, even before china

came into the picture. for example, mr. tom mentioned that the world's biggest packer, a brazilian company, and the cyberattack it faced which was done by russia, by the way, and it halted activity here with severe ramifications across the supply chain. re diverse supply chain would be much less vulnerable to such attacks. we've also heard a lot today about smithfield's taky china, as if it wasn't already the world's largest pork producer when it was an american company. this is tphaorb what what governor noem raised earlier about chemical fertilizer and processing companies being brought up -- bought up. mentioned china's owning of a company that's creating an untenable dependency. if it's inte■qresting -- it's

interesting to me that it is a burdensome regulatory environment that mr. tom identifies as a source ofj china's attempts to build its dominance. when 100 years of poorly enforced anti-trust laws or a lack our food systems so much that it has now become its most vulnerable to foreign threats. so, having sd that, my first question for the panel, you can briefly respond, is, do you believe that market concentration or integration is a threat to national security? each of you. mr. tom: i'll start out, i guess. you know, i'm a family farmer. i'm seventh generation. our family has been in this country 10 generations, we've been farmers ever since. we've grown, we've been successful, we've invested, we've taken risk. sometimes not always

we have failed. but at the end of the day, we're a family farm. are we larger? yes. but it's because we took those risks we worked hard. so, yes, consolidation has taken place but there's plenty of room for all size farmers in the unitedtates. i started with nothing. i came into the family farm and i grew my own acres, i bought my own equipment. i took the risk. i took out bank loans. i took out a farm service agency loan to buy my first farm. but we've grown over type. and it requires a lot of people, but it also requires a lot of investment and education to make sure you're a viablerpr. ms. adams: thank you. mr. daly: thank you for the question. it's very complex and complicated and i agree with goe all sizes of farms and relatively speaking when it comes to consolidation, you know, there will probably bers .

rural america, i expect it's a little bit different than it is in north dakota than it is in indiana, of but to the extent that consolidation leads to further loss o country, that can be something that would cause some concern. but i think you're right.. gacks going to require all sizes in all places, more than likely. ms. adams: thank you. would you like to comment, sir? mr. daly: i with the gentleman. both being farmers, they know on the ground the importance of this issue that you raise.houldd and approached. ms. adams: let me move on real quickly. the valid concerns about speculative landownership driving up farmland price way that it's already for bidding people in this country who want to own land or to farm from doing so.

mainly black, indigenous and other farmers of color, and new and beginning farmers. so i have a justice for black farmers actre agriculture to conduct annual reporting about corporate land investment and ownership. so would you sayt we have comprehensive tracking of landownership in the u.s.? anybody can answer this. we have two seconds. >> are we tracking landownership in the united states? yes. in terms of department of agriculture has a process of tracking sort of farmland acquisitions and ownership and obviously the g.a.o. per this committes ad instructed to see if they're doing it right and there's improvements that have to be made. ms. adams: thank you very much. i'm out of time, mr. chairman. i yield back. mr. thompson: the gentle now ren from tennessee, mr. rose, for five minutes. mr. rose: thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you to ranking member scott and thank you to our witnesses for your time and

indulgence with our schedule today. i'll go ahead and dive right in. ranking member's written testimony stated that agricultural technology is a prime target of intellectual property theft because american technology and farming are the best and most productive in the world. ambassador tom, can you elaborate on specific.s examples that you're awar of -- aware of where recent -- of recent intellectual property theft attempts or successes by china in theja agrulra sector? mr. tom: certainly. i think in the world we live in today, whether it's your banking, whether it's your amazon accou be, we've constanto be altering and modifying and improving our systems to protect our data. and our intellectual property. when i look at -- i'll give you an example. as i stated in my opening testimony. we stolen.

they will continue to find out new ways to do it. i think we need to get more creative in trying to understand how they're doing th-fpt but when i look at. but when i look at what we're doing on farms today, what we do to increase productivity, make sure we lessen our carbon footprint, use less fuel, fertilizer and seed, everything we need to do, those are pry prytary -- proprietary algorithms. with china's investment now in i.p., in the seeds, and their access to fertilizer chemistry, they're going to continue to try. but they've got to get -- theyrf how we produce it on our farm to improve productivityity. one example, i'll give you this. when i first arrived in rome, i went to a diplomatic event. the chinese ambassador came up to me with a piece of paper and say, do you recognize these fields? i said, yes. do. those are my fields back in indiana. he goes, i just wanted to ask. that was a shot across the bow. that really woke m understand that they have access

to more than we think. looking ahead, what long-term investments can the u.s. to maintain our edge in agricultural technology and mitigate the threat of chinese dominance in this critical sector of the economy? it's like i said in my one comment earlier. china's spending about $10.2 ind development. today we leave most of that up to the private sector. which is good. but i think we need to see more, and we need to invest more in research and development between private and public and our universities, our land grants, to make sure we replain competitive. if we -- remain competitive. if we don't, we're going to seea that's going to supplant our markets around the world. mr. rose: thank you. shift gears. mr. daly, in your written testimony, you mention had china restricts near ainvestment intol

sector, unless companies incorporate in and share data with china. can yo elaborate on how this lack of reciprocity and market access disadvantages american agricultural companies and of rp level the playing field? mr. daly: thank you, very important.r that yes. i think we have to really consider a policy of reciprocity in terms of what actions investments in its country, and what we should do on the counter side on this side of the aisle. and i tna. to be honestly, be able to engage with them and say, look, you have these policies that restrict our ies capabilities, so we're just putting those measures in place on this side. so i think it's a smart policy that should pervade the agricultural space as well. mr. rose: sure. and finally, mr. gacky, in the

time remaining, obviously you recognize that ta kind of squarely on soybean producers in this country, in terms of being kind of caught between the motionsn/do and wha. and we talked before restarted. as the soybean industry thinks in the u.s., as you think about the challenges from china, if you had oneakeaway for us today about what we need to be think being, what would that be? mr. gackle: to choose just one i think the important thing to recognize and i mentioned it in my oral comments and in conversations here today, but we are working hard to diversify and find new u.s. soy. and that work will continue on. but it takes time, it takes years, it takes decades to build those new relio and the scale of china being what it is,

and just the demand there for u.s. soy and for -- i shouldn't say -- but *r for so general, if they don't get it from us, they'll get it from somewhere else. mr. rose: thank you. mr. thompson: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlelady from virginia, ms. spanberger, for five minutes. ms. spanberger: thank you. i am a former and as such i do understand the threats posed by the chinese communist parties a aggressive influence campaigns,o target u.s. national security interests through seemingly innocuous transactions. and as the only virginian on the agriculture to protecting our -- committed to protecting our carbon wealth, farms and farm families from our adversaries. as you all well know, the co control american farmland go beyond mere investment. they represent a strategic maneuver to gain leverage over critical aspects of our economy anduction and this control can lead to compromised

agricultural practices, exploitation of natural resources, and unfair competition against er that's why i was proud to lead the bipartisan protecting america's agricultural land from foreign harm act. the bill recognizes thehr communist party but also by russia, iran and north korea. buying up american farmland can be a tool for eroding our nati security, economic security and national security and we need to take steps to push back against these efforts. if there's time per myth, i have a -- permitting, i have a couple of questions. as a virginiaan, represent many, many soybean farmers. one of virginia's top agriculture alex ports is -- agcu soybeans. i was speaking with a producer who mentioned that while he sells the bulk of his soybeans to china, it concerns him, the shift in the global soy market.

and he is, like so many other virginia producers, still impacted by the shift in the market that occurred because of the trade wars initiated some years ago. so you've mentioned how maintaining trade relationships with china is important for the success of america's soybean industry and i would first ask, you know, to my colleague -- response to my colleague's question, you were talking about diversification, diversification of markets. do you have any suggestions for how congress could help american soy producers as they seek to gain access to diverse markets? mr. gackle: yes, thank you for the question. a few examples from congressional action and things we have been advocating for for a long time, and i earlier in a couple of the other q&a's and in my written and oral testimony. but funding through the farm bill as■úsing the re-authorization of the farm bill, funding in the trade and

market expansion space is very im many of our growers were here last week on the hill and may have met with you as well and met with many of you in advocating for increased money in programs. that has been stagnant for several years. the level of funding there. so doubling ofgn market development increasing in those funds as well. just critical in finding those new markets and providing some long-term certainty for the availability of funding, they are oversubscribed. so there's certainly demand. i think soy and others show prey consistently that we can -- there's a great return on investment with those dollars as well. bringing back to the farm. so area that congress could look at ensuring some more certainty. ms. spanberger: for some of my colleagues who might not have met with member producers on the

hill last week, and certainly my conversations were excellent to this topic, could i talk through a little bit that funding matters. why saw that it is, as much as you and your fellow producersm$r endeavor to produce the best product that you can, having the support of the u.s. government in helping toart, establish of , are all things that you all -- you're producing the product, but that boost is something that is of value to you, is that a fair assessment? would you add to that? mr. gackle: yes, for sure. i think what it demonstrates fos outside of china, to new markets we're trying to develop is we have a unique public-private partnership herehe in÷st and showing that return investment when those programs are combined.

>> when you are looking at challenges that farmers have faced the past couple of years in the final time, is there anything you want to make s that members of this committee understand as we head into finalizing the farm bill? >> say the last part again. >> as we head into finalizing this farm bill. >> thank you for the like most s are trying to reduce risk and manage risk and protect family farms d short-term extensions of the farm bill provide some certainty. a■ re-authorization sooner rather than later would be helpful. >> i yield back, mr. chairman. mr. thompson: i am pleased to

recognize dr. baird from indiana minutes. mr. baird: we always learn something th useful for decision-making purposes as we talk about the farm bill and i'm going to start withnother hoosier who has quite a presence in the state of indiana. so, mr. ambassador, you made reference that we need to expand our markets into other markets, and you certainly have atr area. so can you expand on that, what other countries that we might be interestedwég >> i think usda is starting -- i heard a number of trade missions that have taken place over the last six months in africa. it all comes down to funding, do they have the money to buy the

basic soybean, corn, flour, wheat, rice. that is the come back home and say what can we do here in the united states of america to find more value-adde we produce because we will continue to grow yields and as we do that and lose some markets and diminishing markets and supplying china, we better find a way to to use up this crop. biofuels have been good for the environment and economy and we need to continue to look further. aviation fuel slows down a little bit. at the end of the day, we need these products to make sure we have a vibrant economy. value you-add. i don't export a kern e■m■ of

corn or bean. it creates jobs and creates■%mr. i couldn't agree with you more. agriculture is my background, but, you know, this country does just a wonderful job and we have the logistics and that is a real asset and a marketing tool for us as well as what you just said and what you just important. but i want to switch over now to in technology, science and research is my background and i'm a strong ca that and china is trying to take over the world and i go back to the

time i was at purdue and to braw to raise soybeans for a humanitarian reason and a i asked him. he called me jimmy and he said extremely well, the onlpr is those soybean fields have armed guards and didn't do much to help humanitarian efforts in we taught them how to raise the soybeans and went on the world market. i'm asking what your t should it in research, how important technology is going to be to improving our productivity. >> thank you for the question and i'll start outynology and ae technology on our farms and on the farmland where i come from

in northd more important in being efficient and reliable producers and financially sustainable to h tee tools. the information we are able to gather as growers to makeç■ decisions each year as we plant a new crop, the information we get back from that technology is essentialcisions and comes to og our operations efficiently and reducing thenp talked about trun foreign production of chemicals and fertilizers. as farmers we are very strong consideration of what it is costing the cost of production for our crops. these types of things te about o does it be long to?

it is farmer information and we want to project that as well. mr. baird: we have one last question, you have one of those plant 10 or 11 mile-an-hour? >> you would be interested to come to my farm. we have some other obstacles in the way. mr. baird: i hear you, thank you very much. mr. thompson: i recognize the gentlelady from ohio, congresswoman >> food security is national security. as a member of the select committee on strategic competition with the chinese communist party theres bipartisan concern on addressing the c.c.p.'sening tanglement in r agriculture industry. and unfairly steal agriculture technology and products included

again etically modified seeds and intellectual property is not up for grabs and the c.c.p.■'■c needs to engage with the world's global food and economy. the c.p. p the global supply chain and u.s. and our allies. the food agriculture is of 16 that is partly why i introduced the bipartisan critical supply chain commissior supply chain and reduce our reliance on any other outside nation. so, the united states has been losing its ability to manufaurgricultural including vitamins, animal feed and pesticide. why are we seeing this and whato

to address this? >> i think in terms of why we are seeing this, the evolution of where the industry went in terms of pricing why things went to pricing. 90% production happens in china. we need to move that back and your bill is exceptional. ok ath see where owrl vulnerabilities are and the focusresources and moving government resources in the right direction and ensuring we are putting it here in the united states or a situation where we can depend on the supply. >> i would like to contue with t

recommendations do you have to protect america's intellectua property specifically in agriculture? >> the resources need to be pute is a lot of intelligence sharing and happened for a long period of time with the defense department agencies that work with the defense department and sharing with the u.s. government. i think that intelligence sharing resource has to go to the agriculture department now. they set up a new entity to do more sharing intelligence and logistical issues in terms of sources and what not. ashe that back and forth with industry and trust, we will be able to build a system where we can■h have

responsive engagement with industry and address the national security matters. >> my response, i have never seen any service or activity that can't be done better by the private sector than the government. i believe itivate sector to pros intellectual property and welcome we can get support 's up to us to work hard to make sure we are protecting i.t., genetics,■a chemistries. i think their best position and best aibled to meet that need. >> thank you thatture national security is dependent upon a safe, resilient food system. i look forward to work on these issues, mr. chairman and i yield back. mr. thompson: i recognize

mr. feenstra■h minutes. fee phenes phenes -- mr. feenstra: this is a topic we need to address and grateful. i want to play off dr. baird when it comes to intellectual property and what's going on. i'm from iowa. the district that has the most corn and soybeans. 30,000 an acre one shocking story for my state and noted this, digging up hybrid corn seeds and found out they are sending seeds back to china. and p.r.c. admitted he was trying trade secrets. and cost 100 million and new hybrids and takes time to steal.

can you talk about -- we know the dangers. we know china poses but how can we -- how can we prevent some of this i.t. theft. seed companies, universities, ts

those complex issues. to me as a farmer, it does me no goodions to be possible to occur. looking for solutions. >> i agree. it's a partnerip public-private from our universities to companies, you name it. it's very worrisome to see what is could you expound on that. what are trends you are seeing in this area?■ >> expounding on it a little bit, some of the service i had. i remember when i was at the national security council dealing with trade matters and deal with intelligence on trade issues that were going on with our counterparts and it was dide experience and didn't have the experience to go in and focus on that intelligence. it was withef andther

matters. i think over time they got good at it. it's a matter of applying as yon it for our intelligence folks, whether that is justice, f.b.i. or■ is needed here to address these i.p. thefts and guard against the tang mr. feenstra: i agree and pivot to you, ambassador, in my district, a lot of corn and we havewc■m a lot of pork and when china has 6% of the pork and beef market and tremendous of ca bit of a problem, you mentioned africa a lotf ago we have to diversify. our biggest problem is going into supply chain frastructuu elaborate.

i think of our dairy, pork and dairy industry. you need received go into africt step on that food chain, can yof what are the obstacles of us getting into some of thesey> your point about the livestock and amount of livestock, beef, pork and poultry at into china we have seen growth in those tw. when you look at infrastructure, there is no cold supply chain■ n many countries across physical and i was in sudan about

ago building toll roads. once you get into the country, o infrastructure. and what we are supposed to be doing at the food and agriculture organizes and hasn't mr. feenstra: use some of these dollars from different export b. mr. thompson: the gentleman's time has expired. i recognize the gentlelady froms for being here. as we think about the impact of china, i think it is imptaat oul economy doesn't stop in our field. our nation's food and beverage industry is the largest domestic

manufacturing and millions of americans rely on every day. and my plays an important role being a supplier of candidate fruits in particular. this industry sees the impact o. and the candidate food industry has record breaking growth threatening jobs and economic activity in states all across the country including oregon. consumers may not be candidate goods are produced in china. american grown candidate goods are making it difficult for consumers to know what are the policy steps would you suggest to bolster u.s. farmers who remain on

the food they eat is actually grown. >> there has always been a lot of origin of country labeling. but we are not going to say the chinese playhe rules. i understand your concerns. i was in alaska and spoke at a conference up there and amount of fish being shipped out furthn china and back to the united states is substantial and you ask yourself, why can't we do it here1r at home. what is the head wind stopping us. whether it's fish, soybeans or protein productwe need to figure out value-added opportunities here at home and creating jobs u.s. citizens. >> i concur with the ambassador had to say labeling issues, tracking

exports and tracking imports of what china is doing and putting the focus on that■: the department ofcommerce to be able to identify these issues and work with the department ofagriculture to make are ensurs not cheating on this matter. >> did you have anything to add? >> just briefly and very good question and p specific example at home in north daght. u.s. soy, american soybean association finding new domestic uses and earlier, we are not going to stop growing soybeans and uses n north dakota we have one new one plant that has come on-line and new opportunity for oil.

and a big by-product is the areg to have. and talked about value added and those types of authorities. china is violations. in 2021 u.s. banned poe taters practices, chinaor practices. engages in i.t. theft and cyberattacks and increased their purchase of foreign land. i am focused on combatting bad d acknowledging that our trade

relationship is critical to the american economy. in 2022, ogon exported $300 million of agricultural products to cine and i hear from constituents about the importance of foreign market development programs and importance of exports to not be understated. to the who panel, we as members of congress think of our relationship with china. while facing the china's egregious behavior. >> try to negative that come back on u.s.=q

strategic surgical and trade wig reactions if you do them surgically and building out on the right laws, it's understandable and you don't have a big splash. >> it's been a number of years a few years china, we had a trade imbalance and over $500 billion sales to the united states and billion to china. we have to increase our sales to china we have to balance it.

>> i yield back. mr. thompson: i recognize the gentleman from missouri. >> thank you to witnesses for being here today, i appreciate that. i don't have to tell that china has everything in we do and poisoning our children with tiktok and poisoning our bodies and killing 100,000 fellow citizens each year through fept nil. i sit othuse armed services committee and i represent two bases. we are concentrating being an effective deterrent against thee saying we could be at war with china by 2027. that's three get ready for

any potential conflict. i believe we have to do everything we can to keep our couny safe from china's influence and espionage and agriculture is a critical part of the conversation. our■7 food security is national security. we have to be prepared for what could be coming. inz[v 2022, last report showed china earned a lot of acres in d yet you cannot go there and buy land. we introduced an americans and land and ownership by china, ven cuba. they shouldn't be able to buy an outhouse in the united states as far as i'm concerned. why do we protect our property

here in the united states that wants to replace us as a world power? >> excellent question in terms of what we are dealing and having to address in terms of the comnist chinese party and how they effectuated recent laws that haveea companies and put their private citizens and that was the issue. what should we allow given that china has put in place a system and laws that make and weapon nighs their companies and put their individual citizens in a position. >> i think it isns. we can halfway do this. our governor had an executive pd sales within 10 miles of a

military land base. but i'm of the firm belief but case closed and hurt us on trade. ambassador, you just mentioned we need to increase our trade with china, this may hurt our trade. but we have got t america. what contingency plans say we are at war with china over foure years, what do soybean producers have to protect our investments here in america? >> and provided some highlights earlier in oral and written testimony. we learned from the 20818 tariffs and actions from china just how much that type of situation can affect o bto i mentioned before, looking to

diversify and grow new markets and there are risks there when you rely on a market or country. the scale of china being so large makes greater and see more farmer dollars. finding new exports and talk about anotherti just more domestic demand and uses for what we are doing here. again, we continue to outproduce that demand and renewable diesel. so we are doll both. >> i appreciate you being here. this is a very serious matter and most americans when it comes to the threat of communist china. the big bad wolf is at the door and we better make sure our house is made of brick and not

straw and not get blown in. and i yield back. mr. thompson: i recognize the gentleman from north carolina, mr. davis,sf five minutes. mr. davis: the members have highlighted today agriculture is a trade dependent industry and china is a top trading partner. how would you prioritize the most practical safeguards that can be pu place that will allow the u.s. agriculture community export to china and not have prices manipulated.tv >> a major, major pork i think whether it's pork or beef or the grains we produce on

our farms back in the midst we y conduct war games when china takes back taiwan. we the same as producers to make sure how do we react and prepare before this tu happens. so let's prepare now. let's not wait for it. we have to continue to sell to cine but time we balance that trade out. >> there are major u.s.9k companies.

in terms of processes of sales globally and■ their supply chains. companies are going that way and the united states needs to foc in on this and members here today and yourself made this a big focus in terms of what should be the priorities. and i think thiwm is an exercise that the ag department has to work with industry and you all to make sure those priorities are in line security and food security. ■y

and have been caught to smuggle them out of the country.

my question is there any way to he he evaluate or that technology is not being exploited by china for their own advantage? >> i thank you, congressman. great question and right in the forefront. we h■ gave to be vigilant in tes of having our intelligence agencies work with the department ofagriculture and provide that intelligence information to where the threat is going to eminate and capture before the curves. the second part of the■qu thinkr cybersecurity systems in line with the agriculture a w that at there and china is controlling the market on and produce it here in the united states.( is e

around the world and two, economic three is econoc

>> recognize myself for five roster. thank you to our panelists and apologize being i the room three committees at the same time today. so let me jump ambassador -- for give me if this is question. we saw over 10 years ago one of the largest chinese ac which significances with smith field and the focus of china and what it means a danger to american agriculture and the american

this proliferates and little has been done to put the brakes on it. with the chinese government plaa lot with the adjacent lands to r important military installations. bring that into focus forthese facilities such as processing plants are more and more owned by chinaes or other out influences like that. what's that going to do to harm the ability to their products and market it to the change that we are kind of used to these■t d ambassador. >> the comment, smithfid they

are benefiting from that relationship and place for their pork to be processed and bics ed understand why the chinese bought smghtfield foods. it wasn't for the productionas e intellectual property. every pork producer in china, they had two and fed them the excess and got african swine fever that occurred across the nation needed to consolidate and bring in the latest science. only way to acquire a wire smithfield to intellectual property. mr. lamalfa: i want to shift in my remaining time

with the chinese cartel going on with so much in the drug culture and so much of it going on in noarnt california and the locals are seeming almost powerless and short on resources vast proliferation of are chinese cartel marijuana growth. you should see it the vast number of greenhousees right now it's private property which makes it a enforcement. it has been on federal lands which federal lands with the forest service and not making ms own challenges on that. so we have much organized crime tied to china and illicit

marijuana trade and horrific for the environment and horrific for law enforcement of sense of security and water being carted without permits and environmental damage. so these chineseúu■gs ganave ben distributing the end product and very dangerous chemicals that are not available at allo the process. can you emphasize a little bit, what would you tell us about the international crime effects in our national security as well as the local quality of life? and talking about northern california and other ones in trinity county and investment on

federal lands. please touch on that. >> thank you, congressman. and it is a very serious issue that thankfully with earl leadership, the u.s. focus gets placed upon it. resources we has to be borne on it. the customs, c.b.p. and seeing what is happen address that andr just ties department to make sure that they prioritize this issue in terms of going after these cartels are possible ways you can draw focus on that role. mr. lamalfa: inaction or in and

enforce and with that, i would like to now the gentlewoman from hawaii. >> as the only asian have american of the asian committee, i remind my colleagues that words matter and as they deliberate we must consider the impacts of our words and policy decisions. i serve on the h services and my line is on the front line of defense and understand the and natio that b. the rhetoric will encourage and invitecrimination against chinese americans. dpofer said we have become

acountry being off ebbedded by each other and rhetoric leading to violence against asian amat the height of antichinese sentiment. congress because the hate crimes during the pandemic. no one has consequences. they were exclusionary land laws in different states and forced to sell their pronts. representative of the cure is not worse than the disease.

proposing broadband that could have significant impacts on asian-americans, there is a lot more to invest including agricultural land. i know you have these types of questions. i'm not saying we shouldn't have this discussion but they need to be do you understanded. welcome to come together on policies to combat the c.c.p. while protecting ourappropriatil give the secretary of agriculture. how will this impact to monitor chinese investments and are there any changes to to better address this? [indiscernible]'f■?

>> and national security problems. >> do you want to answer that? if not, the usda has developed r any and preparing for well?

>> could you repeat the question. [indiscernible] any for such a system to build in safeguards? >> i don't see any problem there. >> i know my time is up. i may have further questions to submit to the record. according to estimates of economic and agricultural research and as of twowght and - [indiscernible] what investments in research should we services committee -- [indiscernible] what more do we need to be doing

since they are investing and we are not. >> i think the question from again the standpoint and speaking with the american soybean association, whether it is at the federal or state level and increased confidence that i will be able to produce a crop under challenging circumstances or other type of , the risks we are seeing on the farm dollars are very important. >> i would like to be able to keep up. thank you.

>> thank you, mr. chairman chaid appreciate governor noem and t . i represent the big first district of kansas which i central and western kansas and number one producer of beef of wheat and sour we see every side supply chain. we know in kansas that food and i tell people all the time and we are the free country we are, one of w had to rely on another country for our and this hearing

highlighted the negative impact that china can have on agriculture chain and i chair those including larning tracts. any threat has to be taken very riously. the subcommittee and i would like to to china's questionable ambitions. china desires america's protein products and investments in securing our protein anding gen. given china's track record, can china becting espionage to acquire that united states has been developing rather thand det themselves and what should we think about that? >> that is for, absolutely do

think that china would do. there is a reason why the committee one of the national security priorities was u.s. biological information. and if that's is gathering for its intelligence, it's certainly because food security for china to their survival. in terms of how we guard against it, i think just of putting their resources and steal that information. >> i appreciate what you agriculture is very trusting. our family farms, i can't imagine taking a piece of wire from my neighbor much less stealing intellectual property. we cannot forget that is what we see global actors.

trade is key and we have to foster nonchinese markets to ads to our ag producers. market access program and critical components. i have been advocate of working doubling dollars on s and d. caw develop trade relationships with american allies and grow agexpoe threat and biden administration has not been pursuing the free trade agreement? >> start by saying there is a relationships that we have been able to 112 markets across the country is what i mentioned in my oral and written testimony and return on investment but to make

the point again, these aren't just taxpayer dollars but farmer dollars whether it is soybeans. farmers are by investing own dollars and tremendous return when it comes back to the farm and return on investment the we have a history of showing how those relationships are built and that takes time to build those relationships and establish them and be a reliable partner. >> incredibly point. but we have seen china's domestic ag production grow 530% since year 2000. how does it impact our ag economy? >> we have seen 500% increase

over the past decade and comes from that has been stolen from us and lost that competitive edge. i have no reason to rapid rate and got our technology, the digital side. and they are going to continue to grow that. and feed 1.4 billn people. i want to say one final thing. when president xi jing ping and putin said who would think we have control of the world s quickly. we need to take control. and we are not aware. >> i agree. >> i yield back.

mr. thompson: i recognize the gentleman from california for five mr. chairman and thank you to the panel. i want to echo so much of what we have heard today a concerns with china and competitiveness and buying of our natural resources and it might be echo, echo, other related matters that threaten american working families and) we are seeing produce crops, $4 billion in crops from mexico. to 20 million tons of produce crops coming in from moscow. they are being capatalized by the drug cartels and they are enjoying our open policy

charge fentanyl. and mexico is aligning■b itself and south america with china. our produce industry is being capatalized in mexico anding exn consumers. i'm concerned that they aren't going to flow replaced, we will have little to say about that. am i valid in thatso concern? >> ask that question again. >> is america÷■rpply from mexico diverted from ■w wi, we see these brick nations line up together to cut the u.s. out of chain and anything

they can affect us nickically, they do it. it could be threat. my biggest risk, your own state of california and moving agriculture out especially in the vegetables, permanent crops, moving to other places around the world. this is produced with the chemicals and products that are approved in the united states. i'm not sure we track as we should. >> in the united states, we talk about intellectual property theft and how it american companies. we addressed it in china. they are not approving our advance onave companies developw tools for us and we can't get our own usda a the patents tick away and lose incentives to

invest in farm tools. am i on there? >> if you look on the crop care, 40 years since we had a new mode of action. shows how is. 18 years to bring new chemistry to market and hundreds of millions of dollars. a funding issue -- >> i think it is disinterest. i came from a natural resources hearing, we are not exploring oil in america and focusing eney boondoggles-f you were advising to put a chemical or pharmaceutical plant or chemical precursors, would you in good conscienceo build that plant

in america today given our energy policies? producer i wont as an administration, no. >> this is a 20-year plant and sway. maybe a 50-year investment. so. >> i can't tell you what■< the investment these cyst is, but capital intensive to bring them back to the united states. we need together. >> china's growing and know about the oil and rest of the we struggling and serial advertising it our own policy tt challenge today? >> it's our own policies and

whether it's energy or food and doing in the regulatory environmenabt or solve climate r what we are trying to do in nutrition this will affect those who can least affect it the most. and they say, they are going to absorb it and gets handed onto the consumer. policy gets handed onto the consumer. >> china's upper middle class and purchase power parity is bigger than the american working families. we are not eating our lunch because they are buying our land but because we are feeding it to them. i yield bk. mr. thompson: i recognize mr. nunn for five minutes. >> this is a very important nv a former counterintelligence

officer, the threat is real and often overlooked. i appciate the chairman putting this together on the direct impact and got off the china and harvesting organs and harvesting our own agriculture the threat is real and now. thank you for the soybean association. you are part of team and producing and providing■? f iowa, illinois, we are part of this team together. i am proud of what we have been able to export with u.s. agriculture soybeans being number one in the field. the challenge is 60% of that ch. talk to us what we should be doing to help diversify and make sure we are not dependentmer the

this in the trade war against us. >> i appreciate you highlighting doing what we do to supply the world. so much of that is critical. we have talked about something >> thank you. i appreciate that. what we're doing is trying to supply the farmers around the world. finding new markets is critical. we've talked about map somethint mentioned yet is the new program of usda under the regional agricultural program, markets id developing places, places that aren't traditionally reliant on m.a.p. and f.m.d.

i think congress continuing to value and looking for return on investment we ge m.a.p. and f.n.d. dollars and sounds like a lot of money in the access to foreignvelopment s there. the program has proven throughout the years that there is not enough funds there to meet the demand. we could always u more in when we look at possible challenges to the china market depending on policy decisions in to keep those resources there and increase them and bring that return back to farmers. >> it's not just our markets we're ableo mr. nunn: we look at brazil which has been enabled with chinese investment, they're a lead producer of soybeans and is a threat and others subsidizing their markets to go after these same markets, is that correct? t. if you've been to brazil you see the tremendous opportunity they

have to continue to increase their production both through putting morecr or hectors into production and adding new land to that and they're increasing their yield and spending money on research as well which is■ something we spoe about earlier. they're getting better at what they're doing and their improvements to infrastructure, highways or ports or rails. they're ki improvements that are going to put them in a better position around the world. so competing with that is crucial. mr. nunn: i'd like to to alk to you on the national security side. we've looked at a number of things on this committee about what we're doing in the state of iowa, one, to stop china from states, highlighted by my friend mr. feenstra. we've seen people take the genetic material andeplicating it in china by taking a farm field, and it's happening. the chinese government has worked diligently to start mapping the country and fair toy they're coming after agriculture

whether it's growing a field to growing a barn. would you agree?■ree. china is in the world of biologics and where they know the next round of technogy and especially big data and having artificial intelligence to pull together and try to innovate or steal er and leapfrog from us, whether human biology or in the agricultural space. mr. nunn: i'm proud we've been able to protect smallnd able to pass as well as what we're doing in the cybersecurity and agricultural act. i want to highlight with your work, is there an advantage to creating regional cybersecurity rely himself at our land grant and regional schools like iowaee helpful? we now know the top three sectors under attack, financial services, energy, and ag.

the threat is real.mr. daily: ts imperative. china has build up cybersecurity warfare division that's going ad given the business you've mentioned, ag is where they're going and they're going to put all their resources into it and we have to counter it. that building out the expertise yield back my time. mr. thompson: the gentleman's time has expired and recognize mr. van orderren. mr. vaunterren. ■den. mr. vanorden: due to the biden't would not be prudent for companies to start working on

plants to provide nutrients and pest controlunited states right. i don't think people quite understand what that means. mr. tom, thank you for pointing that out. we have to stay and the biden administration can't get out of their own way. so that is incredibly important. i just want to make sure we didn'tkier that. so i also want to compliment the biden administration doing something that is absolutely amazing that they've pulled off a foreign policy miracle in that they've driven china and russia closer together since the death of stalin. it sounds like i'm not being trite. that's what the biden administration has done by theie things about beans if that's ok because they're very important. and so we produce a lot in the third congressional district in the state of wisconsin, and also corn. i read all you guys' testimony

in detail and thank so you much for it. i just have a question brazil ir lunch because we're feeding it to them. today is a good day for you, duarte. we had a huge problem when the previous administration did trade sanctions, like 27% or wh was. but we've recovered since that, right. so now you're selling roughly the same amount of beans to cha brazil increased their capa. there's a couple questions. if we had stuck with it, would that still be the case, meaning would around and started to work with the united states because we stood for longer than one administration, in your opinion, sir? >> thank you for the question. and not being a foreign policy expert, i might not have all the answers here. mr. gackle: part one of that was the fades 1 china entered into

to get back part of that market. what we're seeing is there enforcement mechanism to that, unfortunately. so i would say we haven't seen a full recovery in that china market since 2018. appreciate that a lot of it has come back under that agreement but some of this long term, what i call long term damage tokc the u.s. reliability, we've historically been viewed as reliable suppliers around the world and part of the might nott back is that full confidence that foreign markets across the world had as the u.s. as a rable provider. mr. van orden: i see it as a net positive because the united states needs to be viewed as someone who will stand with democracy and freedom. and x issue jinping had multiple famines and quite frank y the soviet union murdered millions by starving themselves

to date when they their thing. but do we as american farmers have is more resiliency built into our systems because we are getting backwe were. do we have more resiliency built in our systems than brazil has the potential to expand their capacity china out? china has to feed their people every day, so do we have the resiliency built into our systems thatf wetuckt trump did and not fold the cards like president biden did, if we stood strong will we be able to maintain our industry? mr. gackle: that's tough to predict but will start to say that farmers across the country you're talking about when it comes to china and china and threats posed. i believe that's for myself ande others, to say that we have the entire resiliency, one thing

i'll mentioned and we haven't talked about the outlook■p for farm income over the next 2-5 years is not great. prices are dropping, the cost of input may not be increasing as fa production is generally going up. our profitabilityability is going down. mr. van orden: i have 20 gettinn until fuel costs go down because it's predicated on diesel fuel and has to getute question for . if you can go back in time, do you think the united states of america should be feeding nazi 1939,y in 1938 before their should we be providing them with food and aid? mr. tom: well, bringing it up -a today on that? you want to talk about -- mr. van orden: i want to germand do you think that's an appropriate use of american

resources, would it have been then and is it now with china wt with china, we're in 1938. haven't invaded poland yet but on the horizon. as we can. the demand for protein is growing at a rapid rate whether india or chir developing world and the middle east. the reality is we're the best suited to meet that demand but again, it's strength of the united states. it's something we can sell and need to bring again, we're not going to maintain that competitive edge unless we start protecting our own. mr. van orden: i understand. my time expid but if i had the choice to sell food and give aid to hitler in 1938, i would not have done so. with that i yield back. expired and i'll take the liberty as we close out to recognize myself for five minutes. votes have been called probably eight or nine mines ago. we have a fair amount of time left on the clock and even after

that clock winds up. one quick r testimony highlights reports and the usda with afida and you mentioned foreign agriculture land holdings within the united states increased 30% since 2019 outside the recommendations within the report, can you expand on other changes congress should look to address the gaps? mr. daly: thank you, mr. chairman. it's a very good question. in terms of the reporting being done, ito me and what i've seenn government and in the private sector in terms of the way china is doing some of its investments, it's doing it in complex ways, either through private equity intent advertise or limited partners versus being or limited partners versus being general partners and ihink capturing the complexity of that reporting in terms of ownership would be very useful and also in terms of land use, but i think

the recommendation of the are useful as a starting place but looking at how the chinese are structuring that investment and where they're doing it int t is important and where they're declaring their ownership in the other land category should be mr. thompson: before i yield back my time, i'd like to address the gentleman from massachusetts' comments. we're all aware of■' oppressive proposition 12 mandate as well as similar mandates in states like massachusetts. i'm sure you all have heard me+ want a fix for these mandates. my colleague may think this is a done deal, the supreme court made itbu congress can and quite frankly, my reading of the opinions, should address this. coming up here hopefully in the very near future. and because of the

communications that the supreme court did in their they made it abundantly clear congress has the ability to address the inner state commerce chaos we've arise since then. and i'm a supporter of rights have limited territorial effects but any state and local laws that control production outside of their jurisdictions are inherently harmful to interstate commerce. the eats act and similar proposed fixes would not restrict states from creating laws for their residents and would just ensure that american farmers outside of those jurisdictions would continue to be allowed to produce according to the state that they produce in. any other characterization of what these proposals would do is false and m frankly is a stain on this committee's work. and specifically to address

comments related to china, no one has made any sort of coherent argument explaining how one state dictateing to how to farm helps out china. china didn't ask for the help. farmers have asked for the help. and from massachusetts was ranting about china's influence on my decisionmaking, my staff at that point were meeting with over 30 american "sportscenter" producers who all asked for a prop 12 fix in order to continue running their family owned i'm trying to have a serious policy conversation while some of my colleagues are standing behind a convenient strawan and finding solutions. i've committed to finding effects that benefit american producers and no one else and i intend to find one. that concludes my questions. closing statements, you know,

just thankouch to our witnesses, just a wealth of information that you have shared with us. i think it's insightful and helpful. very specific thoughts and recommendations that we need to be pursuing. as always, thank you to our■v staff 6, our personal office staffs and committee staffs that do such great work to help make sure we do these types of hearings sufficiently. food security is national security and food produconcess s influenced through the purchase or theft of intellectual property influenced by the chinese■v communist government s a significant risk. there must be legal consequences that serve as a and a preventative measure. we've heard really, i think,

solid recommendations today that neerxto continu on. safeguards are warranted. even outside of this committee. i'm very proud within and work , we've proposed a bill, introduced a bill that would create a pilot for cybersecurity into career and technical education. we need people with those skills to be on the front talked abouta of agriculture and those systems need people working on the development and maintenance of th skills. so there's a broad width of solutions here and certainly having people with the right skills to do our best to be able to prevent the stealing of that's just one small example. so we need to encourage usda to aggressively work on, i belve s.

we need to encourage usda to aggressively work on new trade re new markets for our agriculture commodities to manage future risk. we must strengthen our invest be research and quite frankly, their trade programs, foreign market development and our we need to encourage, i believe, trade language for usdr to be t with that would prevent -- do our best to prevent retaliatory agreements, retaliatory tariffs on american agriculture commodities because any time there's a trade war, so to speas american agriculture. i remember first coming here unit the obama administration --

and there were chinese manufactured tires creating some type of accident risk, i don't remember what it was specifically so we imposed a tariff on these tires, or the obama administration did and in response, china put a tariff on ,z■i think it's immoral thay country, including the united states, would do retaliatory tariffs on such an essential thing as food. we ought to look at language that somehow we can at least promote within the trade discussions, we'll say when the tariff disputes are completely unrelated to agriculture. so once again to our witnesses re so much for your service, for your expertise and for joining us here. and the -- the committee, the record of today's hearingil remain open

for 10 calendar days to receive additional material and supplementry written responses from the witnesses to any es this hearing on the committee on agriculture is adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2023] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for it andy visit ncicap.org] ■>

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