U S , States Weigh Farmland Restrictions After Chinese Balloon flatheadbeacon.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from flatheadbeacon.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Near the banks of Montana s Musselshell River, cattle rancher Michael Miller saw a large, white orb above the town of Harlowton last week, a day before U.S. officials revealed they were tracking a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the state. The balloon caused a stir in the 900-person town surrounded by cattle ranches, wind farms and scattered nuclear missile silos behind chain link fences.
As U.S.-China relations cool amid trade disputes and espionage fears stoked by the Chinese spy balloon shot down off the Atlantic Coast, lawmakers in Congress and at least 11 statehouses are weighing legislation to further limit foreign ownership of farmland.
"The bottom line is we don’t want folks from China owning our farmland. It goes against food security and it goes against national security,” Tester told The AP.