Gov. Kristi Noem's foreign ag bill dies in South Dakota Senate

Gov. Kristi Noem's foreign agriculture bill reached as far as the South Dakota Senate floor, and that's where it died.

Legislators killed the bill on a 11-23 vote on Tuesday, which means the state will have to rely on the current statute that's in place to restrict ag land purchases in South Dakota.

This follows more than half an hour of dialogue between from Senators, who went back and forth on the bill.

Supporters mention Chinese government

Republican Sen. Erin Tobin, the Senate's prime sponsor of the bill, began her remarks by iterating the history of aggravations China has committed against the U.S. and abroad.

She pointed to technology threats that "eviscerated entire sectors of the American economy," then cited their government's record of human rights abuses. But the issue returned home in Tobin's opening statement Tuesday.

"In 2013, we allowed the purchase of Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer and the largest Chinese takeover of any company funded by the Chinese government," Tobin said. "They now own 26% of the pork industry in the U.S. We did not pay attention to the Chinese Communist Party's ideology."

More:Fact check: Smithfield Foods is not selling meat that was slaughtered, processed in China

Of those in support of SB 185D, like Republican Sen. Jessica Castleberry, the bill is a much-needed measure to enforce the protection of state and national security.

Castleberry, who represents Pennington County, the home of Ellsworth Air Force Base and, soon, the next-gen B-21 Raider, said the bill is necessary to prevent China from collecting data on the military installation.

"The Chinese government wants intelligence on that aircraft, and the easiest way for them to get it would be to buy land in our own backyard," Castleberry told the Senate body.

What was the opposition to the ag bill?

Legislators opposed to the bill took issue with the proposed law for multiple reasons.

Some, like Republican Sen. Randy Deibert, a chair on the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee, brought up the near-unanimous disproval from South Dakota's major ag groups as a key sticking point to oppose the legislation.

"Most of the concern by the ag industries are not addressed. I know we need American security, but at what cost? At what cost of private ownership and private property rights?" Deibert said.

More:Why Gov. Kristi Noem's foreign ag bill may not make it through the legislature in 2023

This point was honed in on earlier by Republican Sen. Jim Bolin's, whose effective characterization of the state's ag groups, later referenced by Tobin herself, suggested a sympathetic image of the state's ag community.

"These are the salt-of-the-earth people, your pork producers, your corn growers, your soybean people, the [South Dakota] Farmers Union, the South Dakota Farm Bureau plus other groups," Bolin said. "These are some of our most patriotic, positive, conservative people in the United States that are opposing this bill. And the reason they're opposing this bill is that it's too broad."

Republican Sen. John Wiik was one to say the bill was flawed, but he took a moment to reach out to both yay-and-naysayers and stress that the "idea is supported nearly unanimously." He continued that keeping the bill alive would also keep the discussion on this particular need alive as well.

"Maybe this bill isn't perfect. I trust the House to make it better. I think if we keep this alive, we can continue the conversation. We have a self reporting law that came back in 1979. Maybe we put some teeth in that," Wiik said.

The Governor's Office was not immediately available for comment.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: South Dakota foreign agriculture bill fails on Senate floor