A South Dakota Congressman is demanding why billionaire Bill Gates is purchasing vast amounts of farmland in the United States while telling Americans to stop eating meat.
Earlier this month, Gates secured legal approval for purchasing 2,100 acres of farmland from northeastern North Dakota potato growers Campbell Farms, as Yahoo News reported.
The former Microsoft CEO has already amassed almost 270,000 acres of farmland across dozens of states, making him the largest private owner of farmland in America.
Gates bypassed a 1932 anti-corporate farm ownership law by pledging to lease the land back to farmers.
But this was not enough for South Dakota Congressman Dusty Johnson, who now demands answers.
“It has become clear in recent reports that Mr. Gates is the largest private farmland owner in America; he now owns nearly 270,000 acres of farmland across 19 states,” he said.
“Comparatively, the average farm size in 2021 was 445 acres, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service,” Johnson wrote in a letter addressed to committee chairman David Scott.
“I believe that Mr. Gates’ holdings across much of our nation are a significant portion that the Committee should not ignore.”
He later asked on Twitter how Gates is buying up large quantities of farmland was consistent with him telling Americans to move away from meat consumption.
“Bill Gates is the largest owner of US farmland,” Johnson stated.
“I’m curious what’s planned for this incredibly productive ag land given that he believes developed countries like America “shouldn’t eat any red meat.”
“How are his land purchases related to those aspirations?” asked Johnson.
The Congressman also emphasized the meat issue in his letter.
“The Committee should be interested in Mr. Gates’ ownership and plans for his acreage, as he has been a leading voice in the push for ‘synthetic meat,'” wrote Johnson.
“In 2021, Mr. Gates was quoted to say ‘all rich countries should move to 100 percent synthetic beef’ to combat climate change.”
Johnson also demanded to know what plans Gates had for the farmland.
Asserting that “ownership of farmland matters a lot,” Johnson noted how “no one has been buying it up faster than Bill Gates.”
Gates now owns 268,984 multi-use lands in 19 states across America.
At the same time Gates buys up massive swaths of farmland, his friends at Davos are telling Americans, “You’ll own nothing and be happy,” which has become the World Economic Forum’s catchphrase.
This is all happening while farmers across Europe are being paid to quit or retire from farming. In contrast, others are being put out of business by demanding net zero emissions targets imposed by the Government.
