In extended remarks to the North American Agricultural Journalists on Monday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack defended the decision of the National Agricultural Statistics Service to cancel certain reports, called on Congress to make the Special Supplementary Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children mandatory spending, and commented on the issue of Chinese ownership of American farmland.

On the NASS decision to cancel certain reports including a July cattle report, Vilsack said that Congress did not provide the money needed to raise NASS salaries a promised 5.2%.

Reacting to comments from Arlan Suderman, a commodity analyst, that his clients had been googling the USDA budget and believed they saw USDA spending that could be used for the reports, Vilsack said, “People have to understand the budget. If they look at it, they may not understand the budget.”

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NASS decided that other reports were “of significant value,” Vilsack said. The first appropriations bill that gets considered is defense, Vilsack noted, and then there are others that come before USDA.

“So those folks who are upset should talk to appropriators,” he added.

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American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall this week urged USDA to reverse its decision to cancel livestock and crop surveys. Renewable Fuels Association President Geoff Cooper said NASS should reconsider its plan to stop reporting farm acreage, yield and production estimates at the county level.

Speaking of the USDA discretionary spending budget, Vilsack said Congress should turn WIC — which is now a discretionary program that appropriators are under pressure to fund so that no mothers and children are denied participation — into mandatory spending like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and school meals.

WIC now takes 28% to 30% of the USDA discretionary budget, he said.

Asked about Chinese ownership of American farmland, which is currently a hot political topic, Vilsack said that total foreign farmland ownership is only 43 million acres out of 880 million, which is about 3% of U.S. farmland, and that China owns 360,000 acres, one-tenth of 1%. If China owns farmland “next to a defense installation, I am concerned,” Vilsack said.

But he added he is more concerned about Wall Street investors owning farmland, which, he said, is creating barriers for young farmers to buy land.

But while state legislatures have been passing laws forbidding China to own farmland, no legislatures have been passing laws about investment funds owning farmland.

“There is a disconnect here,” Vilsack said.

He also likened the criticism of China, a top buyer of U.S. agricultural products, to a publication taking advertising from a group and then attacking it.

He noted that the Chinese agriculture minister asked him about Arkansas’ decision to order Syngenta to sell its farmland in the state.

The minister’s decision to bring up the issue “was a signal: We are paying attention,” Vilsack said.

USDA is trying to diversify U.S. agricultural export markets, but China is still important, Vilsack said.

The relationship with China is “complex,” he added. Noting that while the United States may have geopolitical conflicts with China, cooperation is still needed on such issues as climate change and terrorism.

“My job is to say: Think about this,” he added.