The rivalry between China and the United States is also playing out on American soil, with a concerning trend that has caught the Pentagon’s attention: the Chinese are buying up agricultural land in the country on a massive scale. By competing with American farmers, they are also establishing themselves on land close to sensitive military sites… Could this be for intelligence purposes benefiting Beijing?
In one of the most agricultural regions of the United States, North Carolina, much of the land is no longer American, but Chinese-owned. China has gradually been acquiring all the surrounding farms. They even built the world’s largest pork production facility here, far from the Middle Kingdom. There are no flags, no distinctive signs, just a simple sign: Smithfield. Behind this locally named company is a private enterprise under contract with the Chinese government. Cameras are not welcome.
In North Carolina, 99% of the raised pigs are now Chinese. “They put people like me out of business. They have a monopoly on everything. They even have the butchers, the food for the pigs. We can’t compete,” claims pig farmer Mitchell Porter, one of the few still owning some livestock. “It’s strange to see a foreign country producing food here. I don’t understand why we let them control our interests. What’s stopping them from stopping whenever they feel like it?” he wonders.
Beyond food sovereignty, neighboring farmers express deeper concerns. Paige Smart, a farmer at S&K Farm Market, worries about the proximity of Chinese-owned land to American military bases. “I can name at least four, within a two-hour drive. The main one is barely 15 kilometers away. We question the intentions of the Chinese here. It’s quite scary,” she says.
This situation brings back memories of 2023 when a Chinese surveillance balloon flew over the area. “The balloon ended its journey right by our farm. You can see the traces of the fighter planes encircling the balloon to shoot it down. Apparently, this is a place for the Chinese,” recounts the farmer.
North Carolina is not an isolated case. A map shows the counties where Chinese buyers have acquired agricultural land in recent years, sometimes just a few square kilometers. Many are in close proximity to strategic military bases. For Holden Triplett, a former FBI director in Beijing specializing in counter-espionage, there is no doubt: “We’ve seen this scenario before. They are not buying land just anywhere or by chance. Our intelligence has reliable information that this is an ongoing operation. They can use this land for intelligence purposes, intercept communications… and monitoring what goes in and out of the bases is much easier when they’re on site.”
The American government is even more concerned since a 2017 law allows purely commercial Chinese private companies to be compelled by Beijing to participate in intelligence operations. But some raise suspicions quickly. In the plains of North Dakota, endless fields and a military base. It is one of the most strategic in the country, where future drones and anti-aircraft defense innovations are tested. A Chinese company wanted to settle just 20 kilometers away.
“Our property was just there,” shows Gary Bridgeford, a farmer. He says he was approached for a lucrative contract and required to sign a confidentiality agreement. “We were already in the process of selling when I found out they were really behind it. They offered a developer’s price, rather than the usual price of an agricultural project. More than twice what I could have gotten for that land normally,” he continues.
Neighbors raised the alarm, intrigued by a series of suspicious elements. “Initially, they were called Fufeng. When we started to investigate, it became Fufeng USA, they changed their name,” notes Craig Spicer, owner of an agricultural transport company. “In their corn plant, they wanted 90-meter cooling towers. That’s unprecedented. The standard for towers is only 45 meters, that’s it… Surely to reach the sky and access all the information up there,” observes another farmer, Frank Matejcek.
The Pentagon intervened and halted the sale. “The nearby airbase feared a espionage operation,” the farmers affirm. The Chinese company declined to answer our questions. Ultimately, Belgian investors bought the land. The US government has announced a bill to prohibit China and other rival foreign countries from buying agricultural land in the United States in the future.
