Why Bill Gates Is Buying Up U.S. Farmland
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Published 2021-08-21
Investments in farmland are growing across the country as people, including the ultra-wealthy like Bill Gates, look for new ways to grow their money.
In 2020, Gates made headlines for becoming the largest private farmland owner in the U.S. He had accumulated more than 269,000 acres of farmland across 18 states in less than a decade. His farmland grows onions, carrots and even the potatoes that are used to make McDonald’s French fries.
“It’s an asset with increasing value,” American Farmland Trust CEO John Piotti said. “It has great intrinsic value and beyond that, it is a limited resource.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that 30% of all farmland is owned by landlords who don’t farm themselves. Buyers often purchase land from farmers who have owned it for decades; many of whom may be asset rich but maybe cash poor.
“The economic realities for them are typical that they’ve spent their life farming,” said Holly Rippon-Butler, land campaign director at the National Young Farmers Coalition. “Their retirement, their equity is all in the land and tied up in selling land.”
Private landowners are also making a profit by utilizing the land in numerous ways. Approximately 39% of the 911 million acres of farmland across the U.S. is rented out to farmers, and 80% of that rented farmland is owned by landlords who don’t farm themselves data from the Agriculture Department shows.
“The young farmers are just as happy to lease the land because whether you are young or old, it’s a business, right?” said Thomas Petterfy, chairman of Interactive Brokers and owner of 581,000 acres.
“You go buy a farm and you put that cash rental lease in place, you’re going to be looking at about 2.5% return on your capital,” Peoples Company President Steve Bruere said.
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Why Bill Gates Is Buying Up U.S. Farmland
All Comments (21)
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They're not investing, they're hoarding. It's part of the "You'll own nothing and be happy about it" project.
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“Why the rich invest in U.S. farmland.” To starve the poor.
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Control farmlands, control food supply then you control society.
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So he can eat beef - and the world can eat bugs ????
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As a retired multi generational farmer I can tell you this will not end well.
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"He who controls the food supply, controls the people".
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Own the food and the water and you have complete control of the people. People can refuse to use AI, buy phones, work at a corporation, etc. But no one can refuse food and water
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Ask him how much he pays in taxes on that land and you'll find out we're probably paying him
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Control the food....control the people. They aren't even hiding it anymore.
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Controlling farmland and food is more directly related to life than controlling wealth. In my country, the big landowners had power by owning a lot of farmland, and the poor farmers were at their mercy. If their ethics go wrong, nobody can stop them. Excessive wealth is a backward step.
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My experience as a farmer in Australia is absentee landlords make terrible farmers because of their remoteness to the day to day needs of managing properties properly. Paid managers do only what they need to do owners who live on site put in more hours and have more efficient and economic work practices
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Control FOOD and you control people. — Control Oil and you control nations - Henry Kissinger
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The rich are buying ALL asset classes. Stocks, derivatives, bonds, land, crypto etc etc etc. The rich are richer than ever before. This is not limited to just land.
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Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls the energy can control whole continents; who controls money can control the world.” -Henry Kissinger
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Their buying up these acres should be against the law.
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When the people discover what you’ve done, Gates! Your money won’t help you!
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I can't believe we're letting them do this. We are a weak society 😔
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A farmer should 100% own the land he/she is working on. Period.
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I was ranting about this the other day on how rural areas are important because placing too much concrete, buildings etc in spaces where it should be dirt is bad for the earth. Trees and crops are a must, plastic from restaurants isn’t much different from too many houses and neighborhoods being built. And the worst thing about mentioning land as an investment is approaching the concept with an inner city mindset. . . Inner city mindsets view open land as “woah look at how many buildings I can place here instead of look at how much of natural resources I can keep alive.
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68 years old and still hoarding like he gonna keep it forever.
