Mormon church now owns $2billion of US farmland, with more acreage than Bill Gates and China combined

Mormon church now owns $2BILLION of US farmland, with more acreage than Bill Gates and China combined: Huge land grabs in Nebraska and Florida spark backlash from local farmers.

The Mormon church has sparked a fierce backlash from local farmers after snapping up around 370,000 acres of prime ranch land in Nebraska, with the Utah-based religion now owning at least $2billion of agricultural terrain across the country, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), commonly known as the Mormon church, has bought more land than anyone else in the state over the past five years, according to The Flatwater Free Press.

It now owns an estimated $134million worth of agricultural land in Nebraska and is on track to surpass CNN founder Ted Turner as the single largest landowner in the state if it continues its spree at the current rate.

But the church has provoked the ire of the Nebraska Farmers Union, whose president John Hansen told DailyMail.com that its land grab was driving up prices and forcing out local farmers.

‘It’s not fair competition when folks bring in that much outside money and bid against local farmers and ranchers,’ he said.

The church is already thought to be the largest private landowner in Florida, after it purchased nearly 383,000 acres of timberland in 2013, adding to the 290,000 acres of ranch land it already owned in the state.

Its total agricultural holdings in the Sunshine State alone are thought to be worth a whopping $884million.

It comes amid growing scrutiny over the church’s finances, with a recent report estimating it could be worth as much as $1trillion in 20 years.