CRFB Report: China-Owned Smithfield and Syngenta Spent $26 Million-Plus on Lobbying and Political Donations

Center for Responsible Food Business calls on 139 sitting federal lawmakers to return China-linked Smithfield and Syngenta PAC campaign contributions and asks Congress to refer the companies' lobbyists who hid China ties to the Justice Department.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As Congress begins to negotiate a final Farm Bill, a new report from the Center for Responsible Food Business (CRFB) documents how Chinese-owned agribusiness giants Smithfield Foods and Syngenta have spent tens of millions in Washington to influence the Farm Bill and shape U.S. agriculture policy.

Key findings from CRFB's "Pork, Pesticides, and the CCP" report include:

"Americans deserve to know that Chinese-owned agribusiness giants Smithfield and Syngenta, are spending big in Washington to influence ag policy and tighten their grip on our food supply. But our new investigation found that Smithfield and Syngenta's lobbyists have systematically hidden how China stands to benefit from their lobbying on the Farm Bill, pesticide regulation, and foreign ownership of U.S. farmland," said Taylor Warren, President of the Center for Responsible Food Business. "Every sitting lawmaker who took campaign cash from these companies' PACs should show their constituents they put Americans first by returning that money, and Congress should refer the companies' lobbyists who hid their Chinese ties to the Justice Department."

CRFB is calling on all 139 currently serving lawmakers who received the companies' PAC contributions after the Chinese acquisitions to return the money or donate it to charity. Two Republicans, Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) and Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), have already done so.

CRFB is also calling on the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House to refer the companies' lobbyists and their noncompliant filings to the U.S. Justice Department.

About the Center for Responsible Food Business

The Center for Responsible Food Business is a nonprofit dedicated to promoting corporate social responsibility to build a better food system. Through industry engagement, research, and consumer education efforts, the Center works to advance practices that benefit all stakeholders from the farm to the dinner table.

Media Contact

Taylor Warren: [email protected]

SOURCE Center for Responsible Food Business