In 2013, the Chinese firm Shuanghui acquired more than 146,000 acres of farmland across the United States, worth more than $500 million, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. The deal made Shuanghui, now the WH Group Limited, into one of the biggest foreign owners of U.S. agricultural land, according to an analysis of that same data.

The U.S. Secretary of Agriculture says Illinois has a big role to play in the fight for global food security