North Dakota’s state attorney general’s office just approved Bill Gates’ purchase of 2,100 acres of farmland, making him the “largest private owner of American farmland.” Land prices have been soaring, making the purchase of farmland unattainable for most.
But not for Gates, a billionaire and the fourth richest man on the planet. His Red River Trust now owns nearly 270,000 acres of land across the country. “Almost 90 percent of this land is farmland, with smaller transitional and recreational area holdings. In total, the trust owns $13.5 million in farm acres” reports AG Daily.
While roughly 97 percent of American farms are still owned by families, the rest are owned by corporations such as Gates. According to The Land Report, Gates now surpasses the second largest private owner, Ted Turner, by about 70,000 acres.
Gates only holds about 1 percent of the total acres of farmland in the U.S., but it is located in 19 states and he is “number 49 on a list of individuals, families, and businesses who own farmland in the states.”
A 2021 report which unearthed the large amount of land Gates is accumulating sparked a response from many American farmers. The farmers have “spoken up in blog posts and on social media” as “uneasy – and in some cases, upset.”
Gates responded to an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit about his purchases, saying, “The agriculture sector is important. With more productive seeds, we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be, but if they are cheap it can solve aviation and truck emissions.”