Bill Gates is the biggest private owner of farmland in the United States. Why?

[lordsummerisle]

theguardian.com

Gates has been buying land like it’s going out of style. He now owns more farmland than my entire Native American nation.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/05/bill-gates-climate-crisis-farmland

[DURHAM D]

1. The facts in the article do not match the headline.

jftr - I would rather Melinda and Bill own land than say...the Koch family.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

4. Agreed but monopolies are not a good business practice.

[DURHAM D]

8. The number of acres they own is minimal. nt

[Fiendish Thingy]

2. Perhaps it's for all his microchipped, mind-controlled zombies to work as his slaves?

[DURHAM D]

3. Cool. Better than FEMA camps.

[2naSalit]

6. +1

[TexasTowelie]

5. If he is keeping it as farmland or returning the land to its native habitat

then I don't have any issue with Gates owning that land. I haven't met many farmers who were successful growing crops in parking lots when I think about it.

[Budi]

7. It's Bill Gates. He hasn't a nefarious bone in his body.

Thanks Bill & Melinda Gates

Probably buying it up before China & Russia do.

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

9. Good point.

[samnsara]

17. I agree! whatever Bill does is fine with me....

[Rebl2]

21. Good possibility

Better them than foreign countries.

[marble falls]

10. Someone has to be the largest owner of farmland in the US. Why not Bill Gates?

[babylonsister]

11. Why not? He can afford it, and

I doubt he has any nefarious intentions.

[OldCicero]

12. Because they ain't making land anymore, it's a good investment.

He's also the largest owner of Canada's largest railroad.

Why?

To transport all that Canadian crude oil to the west coast and the U.S. without the need for those dangerously leaky pipelines.

He that controls the transport of energy and the production of food controls much of society.

https://www.producer.com/news/bill-gates-owns-largest-ownership-stake-at-cn/

[TreasonousBastard]

13. Well, he's not. The King Ranch is four times the size of Gates' holdings, and Ted Turner's...

is over twice that.

Maybe others even bigger.

[hatrack]

20. King Ranch is grazing land, not farmland

And considering that it's west Texas, not the best grazing land around.

[KPN]

14. The big timber companies own way more land than Bill Gates - by a long shot.

I would imagine agricultural corporations as well as some energy companies do as well?

[Dawson Leery]

15. It is a great long term investment.

People need places to live. Land is where most resources for life come from.

Also, better for Gates to own in than the Koch mob/Russia/China.

[ShazamIam]

16. A few weeks ago, I heard on Marketplace that it is because stocks are overvalued so

some investors are turning to farmland.

[murielm99]

18. This happened around here

when Obama won his first term. The country was on the verge of economic collapse. Big investors were looking for something real. They came to our area and especially to the area north of me where there are a lot of dairy farmers. They were looking to buy up all the property from third and fourth generation dairy farmers. It didn't work.

[ShazamIam]

19. It is good to hear the families kept their farmland.