Wednesday, September 22, 2021
A4
OPINION
VOICE of the CHIEFTAIN
What are
foreign investors
doing with U.S.
farmland?
F
or decades there have been con-
cerns that foreign investors are
buying up farmland in the United
States.
That this is a hot-button issue for
American producers and a strategic pol-
icy concern for politicians is understand-
able. Wealthy foreign buyers make it
harder for domestic producers to com-
pete for available farmland. Well-heeled
investors of all types always push out
smaller potential buyers. The thought of
some foreign actor taking control of the
domestic food supply is frightening.
There’s no doubt that foreign inves-
tors are interested in snapping up Amer-
ican farmland. We are more concerned
with what foreign investors are doing
with the farmland they buy than we are
that they are buying it in the first place.
EO Media Group reporting of U.S.
Department of Agriculture data shows
that in the 40 years or so that records
have been kept, foreign investors have
bought more than 35 million acres of
U.S. farmland worth $62 billion. In all,
that’s an area larger than the state of
New York.
According to USDA staff, outside
investments are on the rise. Filings show
foreign holdings of American farmland
increased by 141% between 2004 and
2019.
In 1978, Congress passed the Agricul-
tural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act,
which required foreign buyers to report
their transactions.
Foreign buyers have purchased 1.2
million acres of Oregon farmland —
roughly 7.5% of the state’s farm acreage,
according to the 2017 U.S. Census of
Agriculture. The total is 1.5 million acres
in Washington and just 122,598 acres in
Idaho.
The takeover of American farm pro-
duction by foreigners is far from immi-
nent. Their purchases in the last 40 years
are equal to 3.9% of the farmland now in
production.
Critics are convinced that the reported
numbers are low, and contend with-
out proof that much more land is being
bought than is being reported. They con-
cede that it would impossible to quantify
without combing through land records
in 3,000 county courthouses across the
country.
It is certain that the USDA’s num-
bers are misleading. Some of the land
in question has been sold by one for-
eign buyer to another, while others have
divested altogether. Tracking those trans-
actions through USDA data is difficult.
Also, not all foreign investors who have
reported a purchase have a controlling
interest in the land.
We agree that foreign purchases
should be monitored. It would be a dan-
gerous problem if foreign interests gain
control of U.S. agriculture.
To be clear, we would prefer that U.S.
farmland stay in the hands, or at least the
control, of U.S. entities. But, the more
pressing concern is keeping farmland
productive.
Foreign investors are joining domestic
companies that are interested in building
alternative energy facilities or other real
estate developments on farmland.
Turning cropland into windfarms,
shopping malls and subdivisions is a
greater danger to agriculture, and in turn
the country, than a French company buy-
ing vineyards here to make wine.
Once farmland is built over, it’s gone
for good. No farmer, foreign or domes-
tic, will ever farm it again.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Masking up protects our
children
Last September, when there were
28,000 daily infections, schools closed
to stop the spread and classes were
moved online. Today there are 150,000
daily cases and children are back in the
classroom.
Unfortunately, children account
for 26% of new infections, totaling
250,000 in the past week; 2,500 are in
the hospital and tens of thousands are
being sent home to quarantine — with
fewer online options for learning.
And still, there are anti-mask pro-
tests across the nation. Recently, Wal-
lowa County protesters were pictured
front page in this newspaper encourag-
ing parents to send their kids to school
unmasked in violation of the gover-
nor’s mandate. “Don’t be sheep!” one
speaker said.
Delta has created another danger-
ous surge in the pandemic and 100,000
more people may die before this terri-
ble year ends. I am reminded of the par-
able shared by pastors and priests about
the dying man who wonders why God
has abandoned him. When he reaches
the pearly gates he asks why his faith
did not save him.
God replies (and I paraphrase): I cre-
ated science to help you evolve beyond
suffering but you were focused on fear.
I inspired doctors to help you stay
safe but you were filled with disdain. I
even sent a new vaccine but you turned
away, demanding personal freedom. So
yes, you are here of your own free will,
which is also a gift … but faith in my
plan could have saved you.
We are sheep. We mask up to protect
the lambs.
Janet Graham
Enterprise
A minority of people ignore
data on masks, vaccines
Wallowa County protesters are
angry. That is not surprising. What is
surprising, is the anti-vaxxers and the
unmaskers are angry at the governor for
trying to make them safe. One has only
to check the data to realize there are
hospitals with no beds for patients with
kidney stones, most elective surgeries,
cancer, etc. They are full of a pandemic
of anti-vaxxers and the un-masked.
We all want to get back to a normal
life and put this pandemic behind us. So
long as this pandemic rages, it creates
a petri dish to generate new variants
of the COVID-19 virus. Most people
have taken the vaccination to protect
themselves and their families. A mask
is still required because this pandemic
is still a fact of life and will be while a
minority of people ignore the data and
insist on listening to and responding to
misinformation.
President Biden and Gov. Brown
have taken steps to end this pandemic
by requiring additional vaccinations
and masking.
Can we get past the posturing and
sabotaging the health and well-being of
our nation?
David Ebbert
Enterprise
‘Am I my brother’s
keeper?’ ‘Yes’
The recent article, “Anger in Wal-
lowa County: Protesters Reject Man-
date,” has me thinking of the question,
“How are we going to live together?”
When I was boy of 10 our family took
in an 8-year-old whose mother was hos-
pitalized with polio. It was a new dis-
ease so we didn’t realize how transmis-
sible it was. It didn’t take long for my
lungs to become infected. I was gasping
for air about 70 times a minute. I was
to be put in an iron lung the next day.
But the disease broke its hold. I healed
completely.
Many diseases require quarantine,
isolation from those around us. Mask
wearing is a modest form of quarantine.
Polio, like many diseases, has virtually
been wiped out around the world.
How can we take positions of self-as-
sertion and independence that put oth-
ers at risk?
My 76-year-old cousin went to the
ER in Enterprise four weeks ago with
a serious heart condition. The hospital
needed to refer him. They found only
one bed in this whole region — Boise,
EDITORIALS: Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Wallowa
County Chieftain editorial board. Other columns, letters and cartoons
on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily
that of the Wallowa County Chieftain.
LETTERS: The Wallowa County Chieftain welcomes original letters of
400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in
the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right
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We must treat each other
with thoughtfulness
Thank you, Jeff and Stephen, for your
recent letters to the editor.
I share your feelings. We are in this
pandemic together. We will defeat this
pandemic together only if we treat
each other with thoughtfulness, respect
and genuine concern for each other’s
well-being. We are free to do this. We
have the right and the responsibility to
do this.
To be healthy is a noble goal. It is a
gift to ourselves and also to our family
and our friends.
Gail M. Swart
Enterprise
to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services
and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens.
Letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence
and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be pub-
lished. Unsigned letters will not be published.
SEND LETTERS TO: editor@wallowa.com, or via mail to Wallowa
County Chieftain, 209 NW 1st St. Enterprise, OR 97828
Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884
VOLUME 134
Idaho. All other beds were filled with
COVID-19 patients who resisted taking
the vaccine.
Is our freedom the only thing that
matters? Freedom is not only for the
purpose of self. It is for the purpose
of building our community, of caring
for one another. Some whole cultures
have worn masks for decades with good
results.
Someone from the article was quoted
as saying vaccines and masks don’t
work. That simply is not true. Vacci-
nated people do not need hospitaliza-
tion, intubation, or other extreme mea-
sures when they are infected.
In the ancient story of Cain who
killed his brother Abel he was asked,
Where is your brother? He responded
with, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The
resounding answer was, Yes, you are
your brother’s keeper. In the New Testa-
ment the stories and teachings attributed
to Jesus clearly say that we are to love
others as we love ourselves. Love and
care is a community issue.
Wallowa is my favorite place on
this earth and has been for 65 years.
Even though I have been fully vacci-
nated I will wear a mask around oth-
ers to do my part in being my brothers
keeper. The people here are helpful in
many way to one another. Why not pro-
tect one another from the devastation of
COVID-19?
Don Scully
Joseph
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