42 Nebraska Cattleman October 2023 Legislative Update By Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) Agricultural Security Is National Security On Aug. 14, I got a call from the FBI. My email had been hacked by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As a member of Congress, I may be a highprofile target, but I am not the only one. This summer, news broke that the CCP was able to hack the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Commerce and my email account. Hacks and espionage from the CCP aren’t new. But it is part of an alarming trend, a blatant demonstration of the lengths to which the CCP is willing to go to get information. Military and state cybersecurity take up a lot of the oxygen in the conversation, but I am also concerned about agricultural security. Why does agricultural security matter? Because agricultural security is national security. In 2021, a hack hit close to home when Russian hackers targeted JBS meatpacking, one of the largest meat suppliers in the world, which has a facility in Omaha. The hack forced JBS to suspend their operations at nine of their processing facilities, and the company ultimately paid $11 million to the hackers to protect private data. The federal government was unprepared to protect our data and the exposed gaps in our agricultural cybersecurity infrastructure. Recently, numerous stories have broken about the amount of farmland, approximately 30 million acres across the American Midwest, owned by China and other foreign countries. In addition to the economic factors – the land is no longer owned by American farmers and the money is no longer circulating in our communities – there is a significant national security threat because much of the foreign-owned land is within a close proximity to U.S. military installations. Americans are no longer utilizing this land to produce food and feed for our own citizens, but rather its use is to potentially spy on our military operations. The worst part of this situation is that we do not know the full scope of the problem because a lot of these transactions are not transparent or are purchased by third-party investors. Up until this point, states have had autonomy to place restrictions on the sale of American land to foreign entities, but the laws are a patchwork, and range from no restrictions to prohibiting foreign land purchases. I am joining my colleagues in sounding the alarm, because this is a direct threat to our national food supply, along with our military bases. Cutting-edge technology has transformed modern agriculture and allows us to keep the world fed and participate more in global trade. Employing smart agriculture tools to monitor livestock, feed and ship products allows our farms to be more productive and sustainable, particularly in the age of artificial intelligence. The amount of data and potential applications of artificial intelligence in agriculture are limitless – and exciting. The reality remains, though, that the more we become integrated and implement smart technology, it is increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks. Agriculture lacks an industry-wide plan to respond to cyberattacks like what we see in other industries, which exposes real vulnerabilities. The consequences of a major cyberattack would be devastating, both for farmers and consumers. There are a diverse number of ways malicious actors can cause chaos. Exposing sensitive data, disrupting supply chains, damaging farming and ranching processes are just the tip of the iceberg. Hackers can access data, compromising an operation’s data integrity and expose sensitive information, including genetics, proprietary technology and strategic advantages that give producCONTINUED ON PAGE 46
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