Bill Gates became the largest "farmer" in the United States.

Jimu Journalist Song Qingying

Intern Yang Xingnan

Onions, carrots, McDonald's fries on the table of Americans ... may come from the farmland of Bill Gates. According to the Associated Press, Microsoft founder Gates has continued to buy land in recent years and quietly jumped into the largest private "farmer" in the United States. Why did the interest of super rich turn to farmland?

Bill Gates (Photo Source Associated Press)

Gates bought 270,000 acres to become the largest farmer in the United States

According to the 2021 investigation of "Top 100 Land Reports", Gates is considered to be the largest owner of the United States in the United States. He has about 269,000 acres (equal to 1088 square kilometers) in dozens of states. The overall area (1214 square kilometers).

Gates is located in the farmland in Washington (picture source NBC)

According to data from the US Broadcasting Corporation, Gates and ex -wife Melinda owned the area of ​​land across the United States. In Washington State, Gates has more than 14,000 acres of farmland, including huge potato fields, and even from the space that the potatoes here are processed into McDonald's fries; in Florida, farmers are in Gates in Gates. Carrots are planted on the land; in the northern part of Louisiana, they still have 70,000 acres of land, planting soybeans, corn, cotton and rice; there are 20,000 acres of soybean farmland in Nebraska ...

A survey of Gates's farmland showed that McDonald's fries and fried onions that Americans ate almost every day can be traced back to his land.

According to the New York Post in June, although there have been a large number of farmland, Gates's road to buy field has not stopped. A trust fund related to Gates purchased 2100 acres of potato farmland from northern North Dakota, and was also protested by the state. The local people were very angry because the state's law banned companies and trusts engaged in agricultural or ranch activities, and the dispute of the transaction continued until July.

However, when Gates was asked to buy farmland in March this year, he argued that it was not his personal decision, but his "investment group chose to do this."

The U.S. inflation rate has soared, and the rich people buy fields to keep value for value

There are also several U.S. rich people who "work" silently on the farmland. Although Gates is the largest owner of the United States in the United States, he is not the largest personal land owner.

According to reports, Amazon's founder Besos has accumulated 420,000 acres of land in recent years. In addition to cultivated land, there are a large number of forests and unread land. The famous wealthy Wallen Buffett Second Son Howard Buffett has been a farmer for almost half a lifetime. He continued to purchase farmland in Illinois, Arizona and South Africa and operated multiple farms.

Gates and Buffett (picture source Gates official website)

Why is the rich keen to buy fields? This is probably related to the current economic situation in the United States.

According to the "Business Insider" report, under the context of the Russian and Ukraine crisis and Indian protectionist policies this year, the global supply chain crisis and food prices soared. This year, the S & P 500 Index fell about 16%, while the Nasdaq index, mainly technology stocks, fell 26%at the same time.

Supply chain issues and economic slowdown made investors start to worry, and billionaires are also nervous. The demand for grain such as wheat, soybeans, rapeseed, and corn continues. At this time, agricultural land has become "fragrant". When the economy is downturn, the value of cultivated land generally does not depreciate. Buying farmland has become a "efficient inflation hedge tool", even more than most stocks and bonds.

"The attractiveness of investing in farmland is that it often forms an anti -cycle with the stock market, which is a hedging strategy." Daniel Piigro, a professor of agricultural economics at the Ministry of Agriculture, who has served as the Ministry of Agriculture's research economist.

Science and technology tycoon engaged in agriculture, American farmers: But so

What changes will it bring when a technology tycoon like Gates involved in agriculture?

According to the "Guardian", the rich and other rich in Gates support the use of genetically modified seeds and more intensive industrial farming technology, which has improved agricultural productivity and income. Gates is also an early investor of artificial meat companies. He uses agricultural technology to promote plants to replace meat to advocate reducing the dangers of the livestock industry to the environment.

A carrot farm in California (Photo Source Associated Press)

However, land ownership is concentrated in the hands of fewer and less people, and the most affected by American farmers. Holly Lippen Batler, director of the Land Movement of the National Youth Farmers Alliance, said that this trend makes farmers worry that farmers still need to cultivate, but they can only rent land to work for Gates and others.

Some farmers complained that Gates did not better protect the environment after having a large number of farmland. When promoting the new book "How to Avoid Climate Disasters", Gates said that higher -yielding agricultural technology can help reduce the world's forest cutting.

A farmer in Florida, Quartman, expressed his disappointment, and his farmland was adjacent to the farmland of Gates. Quatman once believed that Gates would invest in agricultural technology to help reverse the destruction of ecology by agriculture. However, "what he did with other farmers was not different." Quatman said.

According to reports, Gates' farmland has caused pollution to the environment of Florida. Due to large -scale fertilizers, pollutants penetrated into the sewer, resulting in a large number of destructive algae breeding, and also destroyed fish and swamp habitats.

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