President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during a visit to the Vande Voort family farm, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, in Leighton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

On Tuesday July 8th, the Trump administration announced the rollout of the National Farm Security Action Plan. This is a comprehensive, seven-point initiative to defend American farmland from foreign adversaries, secure our agricultural supply chains, and ensure the long-term success of family farms and agriculture in Iowa and nationwide. At a time when countries like China are deploying shady tactics to undermine our agricultural dominance, this proposal puts farmers and rural communities first – a promise that President Trump and his administration have upheld over and over again

The seven points of this action plan include protecting American farmland from foreign enemies, making agricultural supply chains more resilient, eliminating fraud and abuse from the SNAP program, investing in agricultural research and development, implementing America First policies in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, strengthening foreign animal disease prevention and response, and defending agricultural organizations and businesses from cyberattacks. Taken together, these policy prescriptions form a roadmap of the Republican mission to keep China and other foreign adversaries away from our farmland, pass family farms from one generation to the next, and protect our status as the breadbasket to the world.

In Congress, I have introduced several pieces of legislation that align with the Trump administration’s National Farm Security Action Plan. My Foreign Agricultural Restrictions to Maintain Local Agriculture and National Defense Act – known as the FARMLAND Act for short – would develop new oversight measures for foreign farmland purchases, require the Secretary of Agriculture to report threats of foreign acquisition of American farmland to Congress, and punish foreign investors who fail to properly disclose farmland purchases. More specifically, it would authorize the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review all purchases or leases of American farmland by foreign entities that exceed $5 million in value or 320 acres in size and direct the Secretary of Agriculture to put together a public database of all farmland owned by foreign governments and other entities. Last year, I additionally voted to add the Secretary of Agriculture to CFIUS – adding just another safeguard to ensure that our farmland does not fall into the hands of our enemies, especially China.

As it pertains to the SNAP program, I introduced legislation to strengthen the integrity of SNAP by establishing a zero-tolerance policy on benefit overpayments. Every month, taxpayers shell out about $1 billion in SNAP overpayments, which is absolutely ridiculous and must change. The American people elected President Trump and Republican majorities in Congress to cut waste from government and get our budget under control. With over $36 trillion in debt and counting, we have no time to waste to pinpoint every possible area to save taxpayer dollars and hold bureaucrats accountable. One sector that needs serious reform is the SNAP program, and I will continue to fight for fiscal sanity, government efficiency, and a balanced budget.

Additionally, President Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” supports the three-legged stool of animal health, which helps defend our farms and country from deadly and costly foreign animal diseases. We fully funded the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN), the National Animal Disease Preparedness and Response Program (NADPRP) and the National Animal Vaccine and Veterinary Countermeasures Bank (NAVVCB) to keep animal and plant illness out of country and provide robust investments in mitigation and response efforts should diseases enter our borders.

Keeping foreign adversaries – like China – off our farm ground is an important matter of national and farm security. From Chinese nationals smuggling dangerous, crop-killing fungi into our country to Chinese spy ballons surveilling our military bases and other critical infrastructure, we cannot allow China, or any foreign enemy, to gain an even greater foothold in our farmland or our agricultural supply chains. By standing up to foreign adversaries, cementing our agricultural dominance, and investing in our rural communities, we ensure that American farmers and producers can continue to feed and fuel our country and the world.

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Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, represents Iowa’s Fourth District in the U.S. House.