2024 MO Governor's race: on Free Trade

Crystal Quade: For law to stop China, Russia from buying farmland in state

Jay Ashcroft: Restrict China's foreign ownership of agriculture

Last year, Ashcfoft said, the Missouri Senate couldn't advance a bill repealing the law allowing foreign ownership of up to 1% of the state's agricultural land. So, he said, he worked to pass a bill through the Missouri House that cut that percentage in half.

In the Senate, a provision was added that exempted farmland purchased for development or other nonfarm uses, including "raising genetic traits that are used for human or animal research," as long as no farming occurred on the land. Ashcroft said that was a horrible provision. "Our state Senate voted to amend it to allow any foreign country to buy as much of our land as they want and even to use it specifically for human genetic testing," Ashcroft said.