Cabinet officials unveiled a new effort to counteract Chinese purchases of farmland, particularly around military facilities, even to the extent of using executive authorities to reclaim such land.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced the move at a press conference alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi, noting that the Chinese ownership of such land threatens both national security and the food supply.

The Defense Department said in a statement that farmland bought by investors “associated with adversarial foreign governments” is situated near military bases, meaning the land is “a threat to broader American security because it puts those installations at risk.”

Hegseth said at the press conference that “as someone who’s charged with leading the Defense Department, I want to know who owns the land around our bases and strategic bases, and getting an understanding of why foreign entities, foreign companies, foreign individuals, might be buying up land around those bases.”

Beyond such actions from China, the federal officials intend to work with Congress to end “direct or indirect purchase or control of American farmland by nationals from countries of concern,” including China as well as Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

Rollins likewise remarked that her agency will prioritize “securing and protecting American farmland ownership, actively engaging at every level of government to take swift legislative and executive action to ban the purchase of American farmland by Chinese nationals and other foreign adversaries.”