USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service photo by Brandon O’Connor.
Two committees in the North Carolina General Assembly voted Tuesday morning to approve legislation banning certain foreign entities from acquiring farmland in the state.
The House Homeland Security and Military and Veterans Affairs Committee took up House Bill 133, “NC Farmland and Military Protection Act.” About an hour later, the Senate Agriculture, Energy, and Environment Committee approved the upper chamber’s counterpart, Senate Bill 394, “Prohibit Foreign Ownership of NC Land.”
Both measures now head to subsequent panels — House Commerce and Economic Development and Senate Judiciary, respectively.
At a time of rocky international relations due to the Trump administration’s tariffs, the legislation could signify a move toward increased tension with foreign countries.
HB 133, sponsored by Reps. Jennifer Balkcom (R-Henderson), Neal Jackson (R-Moore, Randolph), Jeff Zenger (R-Forsyth), and John Bell (R-Goldsboro), would prohibit “adversarial” foreign governments from purchasing, acquiring, or leasing agricultural land in North Carolina, according to the bill text.
The restrictions would also apply to land situated within a 75-mile radius of a military installation — a number influenced by national defense recommendations, Balkcom said — such as Fort Bragg near Fayetteville. A complete list of applicable installations is outlined in the bill text.
“If it was up to me, I’d do the entire state,” Balkcom said. “But this doesn’t infringe on private property rights. You can sell it to anybody but a foreign national that’s an adversary against the United States.”
Rep. Celeste Cairns (R-Carteret, Craven) asked for clarification on the bill’s parameters. She asked if people would be able to sell property to individual citizens of the “adversarial” countries without connection to their government.
Balkcom responded in the affirmative. In response to a question from Rep. Wyatt Gable (R-Onslow) about how the “adversarial” governments are defined, she said there’s guidance from the U.S. Department of Defense.
Although the bill doesn’t list specific countries, it refers to governments subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
Over in the upper chamber, Sens. Bob Brinson (R-Beaufort, Craven, Lenoir), Bobby Hanig (R-Bertie, Camden, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hertford, Northampton, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell), and Timothy Moffitt (R-Henderson, Polk, Rutherford) serve as the primary sponsors for SB 394.
The measure explicitly refers to the “adversarial” nations by name: China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.
Brinson described the legislation as a state effort to protect national security, because “food security is national security.”
“The key purpose of this bill is to both safeguard our agricultural integrity and to protect our national security,” he said. “This bill ensures that North Carolina farmland does not come under international adversarial control, and also prevents adversarial nations from acquiring land near sensitive military installations.”
SB 394 is more restrictive than its House counterpart. The proposal bars the prohibited foreign parties from making claims to land situated within a 25-mile radius of a military installation or land underneath special use airspace as designated by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Sen. Lisa Grafstein (D-Wake) pointed out there is a growing population of Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans in the state. She asked if the bill would ban someone from purchasing land if they are a legal resident of the U.S. with Chinese citizenship.
“If they’re a resident alien of the U.S., they have the same right to acquire or hold land as a citizen, as long as they’re a resident in the state,” Brinson said. “As long as they are a legal resident alien, they should have the same land ownership rights as a citizen.”
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