LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin announced that Syngenta Seeds, LLC, has paid the $280,000 civil penalty imposed on the Chinese state-owned enterprise for violating Act 1046 of 2021 and issued the following statement:
“Because Syngenta is foreign owned—ultimately by the Chinese Communist Party—it was required to report its ownership of agricultural land to the Secretary of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture. It failed to timely do so—filing the report well after the deadline.
“Now Syngenta must divest itself of the land it owns in Craighead County. This serves as a warning to all other Chinese state-owned companies operating in Arkansas—I am investigating these types of properties throughout the state and will exercise all powers afforded to my office under the law. As a 27-year Army officer, I can state unequivocally that our concerns over Chinese interests in America’s strategic assets are well-founded and demand action.”
On October 17, Griffin ordered Syngenta to divest itself of the land it owns in Craighead County within two years pursuant to Act 636 of 2023, which bans prohibited entities—including Chinese state-owned enterprises—from owning agricultural land in Arkansas. On that same day, Griffin ordered Syngenta to pay a civil penalty of $280,000, which is twenty-five percent (25%) of the fair market value of the 160 acres in Craighead County.
