It is reported that Bill Gates owns over 269,000 acres of farmland in over a dozen states, making him the largest farmland owner in America. I had heard this in the past, but didn't give it much thought. What does HROT think? Is it good for the US for 1 person to own that much?
Bill Gates owns a lot of farmland.
- Thread starter hawkwrestling
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Huge 5g chip in your ass conspiracy. Mind control. Reptilians. Alien human hybrids.
We better figure out how to price water.
Soon.
While the American southwest suffers under a worsening drought conditions, foreign-owned farms have been siphoning water from underground aquifers to grow water-thirsty crops like alfalfa, which ultimately end up overseas in order to feed cattle and other foreign livestock.
"You can’t take water and export it out of the state, there’s laws about that," Arizona geohydrologist Marvin Glotfelty told CNN. "But you can take ‘virtual’ water and export it; alfalfa, cotton, electricity or anything created in part from the use of water."
Residents in Arizona's La Paz County are particularly frustrated at the area's 'huge, foreign-owned farms' which are taking advantage of lax groundwater laws that give agricultural use the upper hand, allowing farms to pump unlimited water underneath property they own or lease.
In fact, 80% of Arizona has no laws governing how much water can be drained by corporate megafarms, nor is their any way to track it, according to the report.
"The well guys and I have never seen anything like this before," said longtime resident of Wenden, Arizona, Gary Saiter, who said a UAE-based company, Al Dahra, had been tapping into an underground reservoir which stores water built up over thousands of years.
Soon.
While the American southwest suffers under a worsening drought conditions, foreign-owned farms have been siphoning water from underground aquifers to grow water-thirsty crops like alfalfa, which ultimately end up overseas in order to feed cattle and other foreign livestock.
"You can’t take water and export it out of the state, there’s laws about that," Arizona geohydrologist Marvin Glotfelty told CNN. "But you can take ‘virtual’ water and export it; alfalfa, cotton, electricity or anything created in part from the use of water."
Residents in Arizona's La Paz County are particularly frustrated at the area's 'huge, foreign-owned farms' which are taking advantage of lax groundwater laws that give agricultural use the upper hand, allowing farms to pump unlimited water underneath property they own or lease.
In fact, 80% of Arizona has no laws governing how much water can be drained by corporate megafarms, nor is their any way to track it, according to the report.
"The well guys and I have never seen anything like this before," said longtime resident of Wenden, Arizona, Gary Saiter, who said a UAE-based company, Al Dahra, had been tapping into an underground reservoir which stores water built up over thousands of years.
I don't get the nationalist slant of the article. As if domestically owned farms wouldn't do the same thing.
There's ~896 million acres of farmland in the US.
Gates's 269k is 0.03%. I'm not real worried about it.
Ted Turner owns ~2 million acres. I'd worry about that before Gates.
Gates's 269k is 0.03%. I'm not real worried about it.
Ted Turner owns ~2 million acres. I'd worry about that before Gates.
A lot of rich people are buying up farmland. Better than china buying it, but they’ve probably got plenty, if not openly, through various channels.
Isn't he trying to be carbon neutral. Might have a lot of land set aside to balance out his burn rate.
Seems like our Saudi friends are a step ahead:
The drought-stricken Middle Eastern expansion into the Southwestern US accelerated after a 2018 Saudi Arabian ban on growing water-thirsty crops like alfalfa and hay to feed livestock and cattle, but they have a 'national pride' in the Middle East when it comes to their vast dairy operations.
"They have all their cows there and they need feeding. That feedstock comes from abroad," Eckart Woertz, director of the Germany-based GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies, told CNN.
Seems like it'd be fairly effective to ban the export of a few of these crops that are worth foreign companies/governments buying up US land and draining water supplies (pretty much for free) to send back cattle feed.
If we could stop using their oil and stop feeding their cows they really wouldn't have much of a chance.
List of top US individual land owners (from a couple of years ago), for reference:
Who owns the most land in America? Jeff Bezos and John Malone are among them
The 50 individuals, families, and heirs on this list, compiled by 24/7 Wall St., own about 1.4% of the total landmass of the US.
www.usatoday.com
I’d be stunned if his ‘farms’ weren’t a tax shelter of some kind.
We don't use much Saudi Oil, if it was cut to 0 wouldn't be that noticeable. Get most from ourselves and Canada.
No.
Ditto for corporate ownership. Also bad.
And even worse when we're talking about foreign ownership.
No doubt it makes me a commie autocrat that I don't want plutocrats, corporations or foreigners to have that much power.
To the OP the answer is no.
But I also never thought we would allow China to own land in the US so...
But I also never thought we would allow China to own land in the US so...
Yeah, I'm way more worried about China buying our farmland. Nothing good will come of that.
