It’s been a relatively quiet legislative session for agriculture in this lighter, non-budget year for the General Assembly. But there is one bill that would prevent foreign ownership or leasing of Indiana agricultural land by our adversaries that has caught the attention of ag stakeholders throughout the state, including many members of the Indiana Congressional Delegation in D.C. and Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch.
“We want China and our adversaries to buy our farm crops, but we sure don’t want them to buy our farmland because it’s about national security,” Crouch told Hoosier Ag Today. “It’s about food security.
House Bill 1183 was authored by Indiana Representative Kendell Culp, a farmer from Rensselaer representing House District 16. Culp says the bill has tremendous support, not just from the Lt. Gov. and those in D.C.
“It passed the House unanimously. So, all Republicans, Democrats voted together, and I sent the bill to Senator Leising, the Senate Ag chair. I would expect it’s going to have similar support in the Senate. I would have no reason to believe that it wouldn’t. I don’t know why it wouldn’t have the support of the governor once it gets to his desk as well.”
Culp is getting some pushback on the bill, but he’s holding his ground.
“Right now, there are foreign agricultural interests looking to come to Indiana, looking to develop and to buy farmland here. So, I’m getting pressure from some of those individuals who say, ‘Well, you know, this is good for agriculture,’ which it could be. ‘It’s good for economic development for our county,’ which it probably is. ‘We need to make an exception.’ But where does that exception stop? Because there will always be another company wanting to come. My thought is, if it’s that good for agriculture in Indiana and the US, why don’t we have some US firms that are wanting to invest in that? I think it’s a good possibility that could happen.”
Culp provides more details of the bill and other agriculture-related bills in the full HAT interview below.
