Sen. James Lankford met with farmers on Friday to discuss concerns over foreign ownership of farmland and his proposed Securing Our Agriculture and Rural Act, also known as the SOIL Act."If someone is coming in to Oklahoma from Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China, we should legitimately be asking why?" Lankford said.Get the latest news stories of interest by clicking here.Lankford wanted to hear from farmers about their concerns and their thoughts on the SOIL Act, which would require that foreign farmers be vetted before they could buy farmland in the U.S. "The SOIL Act specifically deals with the issue of foreign ownership of land," Lankford said. "We've seen this in a very large way, more than most other states have, because of Chinese ownership. What's happening in the medical marijuana fields."The Republican senator from Oklahoma said the act would make it so producers from certain countries would get extra scrutiny if they want to buy farmland in any state. Farmers told him that they're in favor of the act, especially when it comes to marijuana grows."There's a reason from 2018 to 2019 that we had an enormous jump in acreage owned by foreign entities," Lankford said.Lankford pointed out the significant increase in foreign-owned land following the state's approval of medical marijuana.The USDA reports that the acreage of foreign-owned land jumped the year Oklahoma approved medical marijuana from around 700,000 to more than 1.1 million acres in the state.>> Download the KOCO 5 App"Though we're dealing with this in Oklahoma, we may try to close down in Oklahoma. It's just going to move to other states," Lankford said.He hopes to get the act into the farm bill Congress is working on now. It's something he brought the ranking Agriculture Committee member, Sen. John Boozeman, to hear from Oklahomans on."So, that's really what this is all about is giving the farmers the ability to continue producing enough food at as reasonable a rate possible," Boozeman said. The U.S. House recently released their farm bill, which they claim "is responsive to the needs of farm country." Both Lankford and Boozman mentioned that they like the looks of the bill.Top Headlines Woman battling Iowa city over emotional support goose: 'He's the light of my day' Scottie Scheffler arrested at PGA Championship for traffic violation, returns in time to tee off 2 people, including security guard, injured after shots fired at northwest OKC apartment complex Some in Houston facing no power for weeks after storms cause widespread damage, killing at least 4 Chickasha triple-murder suspect planned other acts of violence, court documents say