Group Buying Land Near USAF Base Sues Farmers

Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., has been speaking out over the past five years about the $800 million in land acquisitions by Flannery Associates near Travis Air Force Base. He says the purchases just don’t add up, Emily Finn reported for News Nation.

Photo Insert: Last year, 300 acres of farmland were purchased near the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota by Chinese-owned Fufeng – a deal that raised red flags about potential spying.

Farmers who never wanted to sell their land eventually sold their property at a much higher price but Flannery is now suing them for $510 million, saying they conspired to inflate the value of the land.

Garamendi noted there was no viable reason to justify spending several times more than what the land is worth.

Flannery Associates has invested more than $800 million on more than 50,000 acres of land around the base since 2018. Flannery says it is controlled by US citizens who own 97% of its capital. Federal officials still don’t know who backs the firm.

NewsNation investigated the now thwarted deal with a Chinese-owned company in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Last year, 300 acres of farmland were purchased near the Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota by Chinese-owned Fufeng – a deal that raised red flags about potential spying.

The city council scuttled the deal. China has been buying up US farms for years. Nearly 384,000 acres of US farmland is controlled by China, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported.

Chinese ownership of American farmland has increased by 55% in the past five years, with almost 75% of it located in the South and about 16% on the West Coast.

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