PIERRE, S.D.(Press Release) – Governor Larry Rhoden and fellow America First Governors voiced their support of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins and the Trump Administration’s National Farm Security Action Plan. They voiced their support in a letter, which you can find here.
“Across the country, Chinese investors now control hundreds of thousands of acres of U.S. agricultural land, posing risks not just to local economies but to our food supply, water access, and national security,” wrote Governor Larry Rhoden and his colleagues. “As America First Governors, we firmly stand together in our unwavering support of President Donald J. Trump and his Administration’s National Farm Security Action Plan. This plan is a critical and decisive response to the invasion of our land, food system, and sovereignty by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”
During the Noem-Rhoden Administration, then-Lt. Governor Rhoden played an instrumental role in protecting South Dakota ag land from ownership by Evil Foreign Governments in his role as Governor Noem’s Ag Ambassador. Among those solutions was HB 1231, which stopped six evil foreign governments and foreign entities from those governments from buying up South Dakota’s precious ag land.
The National Farm Security Action Plan is a joint effort between USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi. This effort protects U.S. agriculture in the following ways:
- Strengthens enforcement of the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA);
- Ensures that inputs to U.S. agriculture currently sourced from other countries are adequately protected and listed as critical;
- Provides enhanced protections for our critical agricultural infrastructure against foreign animal diseases, pathogens, and invasive species;
- Requires the reevaluation of every USDA program through an American First lens; and
- Strengthens coordination between the USDA, intelligence community, and state leaders.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck mission from Washington, D.C., to the farm towns and country roads of our states. Together, we will continue to map vulnerabilities, identify threats, and take aggressive, proactive steps to secure American land, agriculture, and national resilience for future generations,” continuedGovernor Larry Rhoden and his colleagues. “This is the golden era of American renewal, an era in which we reclaim control over our resources, restore dignity to our agricultural sector, protect future generations, and ensure that American soil remains in American hands.”
Governor Rhoden was joined in signing the letter by Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders, Idaho Governor Brad Little, Indiana Governor Mike Braun, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, Nebraska Governor James Pillen, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, and former Texas Governor Rick Perry.