James Comer: “I have been concerned as a farmer and former commissioner of agriculture to learn in recent days that mysterious seeds…”

“I have been concerned as a farmer and former commissioner of agriculture to learn in recent days that mysterious seeds have been sent from China to people in all 50 States encouraging them to plant these mysterious seeds. I say publicly what we are hearing from leaders in the U.S. Department of Agriculture and from my former colleagues in the State ranks, the commissioners, and directors of agriculture in all 50 States: If you get these seeds, do not--and I repeat--do not, plant these seeds. We have no idea what these seeds are. And these seeds could be potentially deadly to our ecosystem. {time} 1315 We have seen so many shenanigans coming out of the China region. We don't know exactly who it is, who they are. But we have seen concerns in cybersecurity, and we have seen concerns in trade with currency manipulation, with stealing our patents, with stealing our intellectual property. This is one more concern. So, I have written a letter and asked the Secretary of Agriculture, who is investigating this, Sonny Perdue, to give me a briefing and give the Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Committee on Agriculture a briefing as to what is going on with this. We do know that there are some people, unknowing of the damages, who have planted these seeds. Again, I encourage people--and it is not just people in the agriculture community. It is just common citizens, random people, in all 50 States who have gotten these seeds.…”