Posted on 07/01/2022 9:14:28 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Bill Gates has secured legal approval for the controversial purchase of thousands of acres of prime North Dakota farmland, after the deal drew fury from the state's residents.
The state's Republican Attorney General Drew Wrigley had inquired into the land sale, and on Wednesday issued a letter saying the transaction complied with an archaic anti-corporate farming law.
The Depression-era law prohibits corporations or limited liability companies from owning farmland or ranchland, but allows individual trusts to own land if it is leased to farmers, which Gates intends to do.
Gates is now the largest private owner of farmland in America after quietly amassing some 270,000 acres across dozens of states, according to last year's edition of the Land Report 100, an annual survey of the nation's largest landowners.
However, the billionaire's holdings make up only about one percent of the nearly 900 million total farm acres in the U.S.
The purchase of the land in North Dakota had raised legal questions as well as concerns that ultrarich landowners do not share the state's values.
Gates' firm, Red River Trust, purchased $13.5 million worth of land in two counties from wealthy northeastern North Dakota potato growers Campbell Farms.
About 2100 acres of land were sold in the deal, AgWeek reported.
In a curious move, the Campbell family in February filed a partnership name certificate with the North Dakota secretary of state naming their farming operation the Red River Trust - the same name as Gates' firm.
But an attorney for Gates' firm wrote to the attorney general´s office that the Campbells registered the name without his knowledge.
The Campbells did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
North Dakota's Agriculture Commissioner, Republican Doug Goehring, previously said that many people feel they are being exploited by the ultra-rich who buy land
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I wonder what swamp he bought in Louisiana.
2100 acres is not really a huge “Swath” of land, Now 10,000 acres is.
The investment in farmland is because investors can get about 8% return on the investment from farm income and appreciation on the land. Lot of insurance companies and pension funds are investing in farmland.
Did GATES get the mineral rights too?
RE: Did GATES get the mineral rights too?
That’s NEXT. I don’t think Gates is going to forgo any mineral depostits within those lands. He didn’t get to be one of the world’s richest men without being clever.
I believe that there should be a limit on private and government land ownership. I do not know what the line should be, though.
They are turning AMERICA into a feudal system. We’ll end up being serfs.
That is the plan.
Wait, what? If you’re a family farmer, you can’t put your farm in an LLC? Why the hell not?
bkmk
My dad was born in that red area.
If you can control the food supply, you can control the populace.
that pic is a bit misleading.
2100 square acres is about 45 x 45 acres or 45 * 200ft per side... which is about 9000 ft per side.
a 2 mile square is MUCH smaller than what’s being shown on this map
Please reread the letter. Says registered family farms are OK.
I am so confused why anyone would need “permission” to buy a couple thousand acres of land?
my family owns over 10,000 acres in West Texas
You have nailed it. This great reset will enslave everyone but the power elites! You rightly thought slavery was abhorrent, this will be slavery on steroids!
I figured he would buy prime farm land and salt it so that nothing could grow.
270,000 acres isn’t a lot of land, I’ve been on several ranches in Texas that were as big or bigger. It says it will be leased for farming. We have 8 sections nth of town leased to farmers and 32 sections south of town leased for running cattle. I’ve yet to see a really rich man not invest substantial amounts into land. To think that there’s some type of nefarious plan in the works might be a stretch. A wealthy person who want’s to keep their wealth needs to invest it somewhere.
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