Bill Gates owns the majority of U.S. farmland.

Question

I’m not sure if this is true, but I’ve seen people on social media use it to suggest Gates is trying to control the food supply. I’d like to fact-check it to see how much farmland he actually owns, and what that means in context. I saw this claim in a tweet that was going viral in 2024 and linked to an article on The Gateway Pundit , and later heard it mentioned on a podcast.

Answer 1

According to The Land Report, Bill Gates owns 275,000 acres of farmland, less than 1% of the total 876.5 million acres noted by the USDA's 2024 report. Gates certainly owns a lot of farmland (perhaps more than any other individual owner in the US), but not nearly a majority. The Land Report's findings have been cited by other publications like Forbes. 
 

Comments

I like that you pulled directly from the Land Report and backed it up with USDA data. It might be interesting to add how Gates compares to corporations and institutional landowners as well as individuals. It might explain how this rumor got started.

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Great fact-checking. The fact that he owns less than 1% of total farmland is a strong response to the conspiracies surrounding him. Including three trustworthy sources is also excellent support.

Answer 2

This is not true. Bill Gates is considered the largest private owner of farmland in the country (269,000 acres), but he does not own the majority of farmland (Land Report 100). This claim originated in 2022 and during that time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that there were more than 895 million total acres of farmland in the country last year. The majority of farmland in the United States is owned by farmers and not large investors. 

Answer 3

The claim that Bill Gates owns most of America's farmland is false. Bill Gates the tech billionaire, does not own most of America's farm land; he does own a large amount, about 242,000 acres across the country, which makes him the largest private owner of farm land in America, according to Forbes magazine. According to Forbes, 61% of farm land is owner-operated, 31% is owned by non-operator landlords, 21% of which are individuals, 10% corporations, and the rest is rented by farm operators. The US also holds around 880 million acres of usable farm land, which is much more than Bill Gates' 242,000 acres. Though Bill Gates is the largest private owner of farm land in America, he does not own the majority of the farm land.