Week seven is finished, and we have only one committee hearing left in Senate Health and Human Services; we are finished in Senate Ag, and just have a few meetings left in Senate State Affairs.

It is evident that China is playing the long game while simultaneously catching up to the United States in its production of an array of weapons, aircraft, and nuclear power. They are spying on us and trying to infiltrate our cybersecurity any chance they get. All this with plans for complete world power and dominance by the year 2050.

China and other countries that hate us want to disrupt our Ag economy and attack our food security. Let me be clear: food security is national security, and when we rely on someone else to feed us, that's when they control us. China and others are buying our seed and fertilizer companies, our processing plants and now our ag land land at an unprecedented rate. Thirty-three states are moving forward with further protections against ag land purchases from these outside adversaries.

I am the Senate prime sponsor of HB 1231, which is an act to place restrictions on the ownership of agricultural land. Prior to the last session, I was asked by Governor Noem to help with a bill to prevent foreign entities from purchasing our land in South Dakota. Unfortunately, last year’s bill did not make it past the Senate floor. We went back to the drawing board and spoke with Ag groups, constituents, and other stakeholders to come up with HB 1231.

HB 1231 will prohibit foreign ag land purchases from the countries of China, Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. These countries hate America and actively work every day to undermine the freedoms and beliefs that our country was founded on. They would love nothing more than to see America crumble to its knees. These countries, their corporations, and citizens will be banned from buying any ag land in our state.

Other foreign entities may purchase up to 160 acres in the state, as the previous law held, but now there will be monitoring and an enforcement mechanism with this law. Monitoring will occur through the Secretary of State’s Office (SOS) and through the Department of Ag & Natural Resource. LLC filings with the SOS will list ownership percentages, and a yearly report will be generated so we can routinely review those holdings. The Attorney General will be tasked with investigating and prosecuting those who don’t follow the law. If this law isn’t followed, there will be a time period to divest, or there will be forfeiture of land back to the State of South Dakota.

This is a huge step forward for South Dakota. I foresee that we will continue to build on this as we look at the reports and filings that will now be in place. As South Dakotans, we want to promote and protect our number one industry while taking part in the global markets. Global markets respond best to strength in negotiation. We want to have the ability to export our products, whether it be corn, soy, wheat, or meat, but we will make darn sure we keep the ag land that produces those products out of the hands of people who hate us.

God Bless