July 1, 2022
Bill Gates, who already owns close to 270,000 acres of land in the U.S., has been granted the legal authority to buy another 2100 acres in North Dakota despite protests by local residents.
The North Dakota Attorney General sent a letter to Red River Trust stating that “all corporations or limited liability companies are prohibited from owning or leasing farmland or ranchland (in North Dakota) and from engaging in farming or ranching.”
Restrictions on trusts also exist, said the letter.
The AG’s letter said that if the land sale were found to be in violation of North Dakota’s “anti corporate farming” law that it would have to divest itself of the land and face up to $100,000 in fines.
North Dakota Grain Growers director Barry Kingsbury, who grows sugar beets, potatoes, dry beans and wheat is friends with the Campbell family who sold the land and is now leasing it back.
He doesn’t know exactly where the recently purchased parcels of land are. “Most people here are pretty spread out,” he said.
He believes that Campbell Farms “didn’t sell the whole farm.”
The Red River Valley, where the land in question lies, is very rich, and irrigation is rarely needed, said Kingsbury.
His group, the North Dakota Grain Gowers Association does not have policy opposing corporate ownership of land.
Is Bill Gates anti-agriculture?
Ironically, he is reportedly the largest holder of American farmland – about 270,000 acres, according to the AP.
“I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef.
You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they’re going to make it taste even better over time,” said Bill Gates in a 2021 interview with MIT Technology Review.
According to Beef Central, Gates is invested in range of ‘synthetic meat’ startups including Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, Memphis Meats and Hampton Creek Foods.
Note: Today, Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland in 19 states. In addition, he owns 25,750 acres of transitional land and 1,234 acres of recreational land for total land holdings of 268,984 acres.
His largest holding is in Louisiana (69,071 acres), followed by Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Arizona (25,750 acres).
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