WASHINGTON — California’s legislature has passed a bill banning foreign entities from buying its agricultural land, a move that is part of reignited discussions about whether the United States should block parties from unfriendly countries from buying farmland.

The California bill makes no mention of China, and Governor Gavin Newsom has until the end of the month to sign it into law. But on a national scale, some experts and politicians are concerned that China’s increasing investments in U.S. agriculture pose a threat to the country’s security. Other analysts told VOA Mandarin that those concerns are overblown, saying there is little evidence to suggest that China’s actions are harmful.

Senator Melissa Hurtado, the Democrat who introduced the California bill, represents a district in the Central Valley with some of the world’s richest and most fertile farmland. For her, security is the key issue behind regulating foreign ownership of farmland. “Food can, and is, being used as a weapon like we are seeing in Ukraine,” she said in a statement.

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