Bill Gates Asked Why He’s Buying So Much US Farmland: Here’s His Answer In Free-For-All AMA

Microsoft founder and billionaire turned philanthropist Bill Gates recently laid to rest the long-time conspiracy theory that he owns some 80% of all U.S. farmland in his 11th appearance in an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session on Reddit.

What Happened: Gates, answering dozens of questions over the course of a few hours during the AMA, including: “Why are you buying up so much farmland, do you think this is a problem with billionaire wealth and how much you can disproportionally acquire?”

In response, he said, “I own less than 1/4000 of the farmland in the US. I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs. There isn’t some grand scheme involved – in fact all these decisions are made by a professional investment team.”

While Bill Gates has spent billions investing in farm properties to make them more productive, new companies have innovated ways for the retail investor to earn passive income in the real estate market. Here’s how to invest as little as $100 (or more, depending on your appetite) in a rental property to earn passive income and build long-term wealth.

Last year, conspiracy theorists claimed that the Microsoft founder was buying up farmland in the U.S. in order to starve Americans for an unknown reason, Snopes said, after researchers said in April that the world was facing a potential food shortage as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

According to a 2022 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Agriculture Statistics Service, there are 895,300,000 acres of farmland in the U.S.

Gates owns roughly 242,000 acres, amounting to about 0.03% of the total.

To put it into perspective, if all of Gates’ land was in one place, it would cover about 25% of Rhode Island.

Check Out More on Real Estate from Benzinga

• Bezos-Backed Startup Lets You Become A Landlord With $100
• Analysts Are Bullish On Industrial Real Estate: Here Are 2 Private Market Offerings To Gain Exposure
• This Little-Known REIT Is Producing Double-Digit Returns In A Bear Market: How?

Photo: courtesy of Shutterstock.

Don’t miss real-time alerts on your stocks – join Benzinga Pro for free! Try the tool that will help you invest smarter, faster, and better.