Missouri Gov. Parson orders new rules on foreign-owned farmland as election year begins
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Tuesday ordered state officials to block companies and citizens of China, Russia and other foreign adversaries from buying farmland near military installations.
The Republican governor signed an executive order prohibiting the acquisition of agricultural land within 10 miles of all staffed military facilities in the state, which includes Fort Leonard Wood, Whiteman Air Force Base and Rosecrans Air National Guard Base.
The executive order also directs the Missouri Department of Agriculture to advance more stringent rules for foreign purchases of any farmland, but isn’t retroactive and doesn’t apply to entities that currently own farmland. Parson is also asking Missouri lawmakers to approve $200,000 and two additional employees for the agency to implement the restrictions.
The order comes as the issue of foreign ownership of farmland looms over the race to succeed Parson, whose term ends after 2024. State lawmakers and all the major Republican and Democratic candidates for governor want to claw back a 2013 law that opened the door for foreign ownership of state agricultural land.
“This order safeguards our military and intelligence assets, prevents security threats to our state and gives Missourians greater peace of mind,” Parson said during a news conference at the Capitol flanked by Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, a Republican running for governor.
Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon in 2013 vetoed a bill lifting a near-total ban on foreign ownership of agricultural land but the Republican-controlled General Assembly overrode him — allowing foreign entities to own up to 1% of agricultural land.
In a statement, Kehoe called the order a “critical step forward to protect Missourians, our military assets, and critical infrastructure against China and other foreign adversaries, all while respecting our strong relationships with international allies and economic partners.”
Kehoe’s Republican opponents for governor, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and state Sen. Bill Eigel, painted the order and press conference as intended to benefit Kehoe’s campaign. Both Republicans attacked Kehoe, who was a state senator in 2013 and supported the veto override but now backs new restrictions.
Ashcroft on social media called the press conference “incredibly disingenuous.” Eigel, in a statement, said the order was “a too little too late in-kind contribution from Mike Parson’s government office” to Kehoe’s campaign.
House Majority Leader Crystal Quade, a Springfield Democrat running for governor, said in a statement that Parson’s order was “a start,” but attacked Kehoe and Republicans for their 2013 votes.
“I’m disappointed that the legislature, and its super-majority of Republicans, have failed to pass meaningful legislation on an issue we generally agree on,” Quade said.
Parson on Tuesday framed the order as a placeholder before the General Assembly can pass a law. He said he focused on countries classified by the federal government as adversarial — China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela — because a complete ban on foreign ownership of farmland would limit Missouri’s work with countries considered allies.
Chuck Hatfield, a Jefferson City-based attorney who worked in the Missouri Attorney General’s Office under Nixon, in a text to The Star emphasized that the order from Parson does not change state law. It’s an order to an agency to create rules that would be enforced as law, he said.
“It just expresses the governor’s instructions to his subordinates to exercise their rule-making authority,” he said.
