Protests Stir After Gates Buys Huge Dakota Farms

The sale of a few thousand acres of prime North Dakota farmland to a group affiliated with Bill Gates has sparked outrage over a Depression-era statute intended to safeguard family farms and prompted doubts about whether the billionaire shares the state's values, Dave Kolpack reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: According to the Land Report 100, an annual study of the nation's largest landowners, Gates is the largest private owner of farmland in the US.

According to the Land Report 100, an annual study of the nation's largest landowners, Gates is the largest private owner of farmland in the country, with 269,000 acres spread over dozens of states. He owns less than 1% of all cropland in the country.

The state's attorney general has requested the trust that purchased the North Dakota land to explain how it intends to use it in order to comply with the state's anti-corporate farming law from 1932. With a few exceptions, it prohibits corporations or limited liability firms from owning or leasing farms or ranchland.

“I don’t know that it’s quite as volatile a situation as some have depicted,” North Dakota Republican Attorney General Drew Wrigley told the Associated Press on Thursday. “It’s taken off, it’s all over the planet, but it’s not me sticking a finger in the eye of Bill Gates. That’s not what this is.” Republican Doug Goehring, the state's Agriculture Commissioner, told a North Dakota TV station that many people feel exploited by the ultra-rich who buy land but do not necessarily share the state's ideals. According to AgWeek, the transaction involved the sale of around 2,100 acres (849.84 hectares) of property.

“I’ve gotten a big earful on this from clear across the state, it’s not even from that neighborhood,” Goehring told KFYR-TV. “Those people are upset, but there are others that are just livid about this.”

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