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If I had billions, I would do the same thing; I wouldn't be gold plating my toilets, I would be buying farm and forest land, and not just in the USA, I would also buy in Canada and New Zealand.

Land, especially arable land, is a finite resource that will only increase in value, especially as the world population grows and climate change causes food shortages.
 
At a certain point you have to invest in something. Farmland is an interesting choice but I don't see anything particularly menacing about it.

Some people always attribute menace to most anything the wealthy do. Meh.

My point was that it is, in general, a smart thing to do (buy land, especially arable land), whether you have a billion or just a million.
 
C'mon man, am I at the age where classic quotes aren't classic anymore because everyone who remembers them are dying off??? :D

"Buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff." - Will Rogers
 
Some people always attribute menace to most anything the wealthy do. Meh.

My point was that it is, in general, a smart thing to do (buy land, especially arable land), whether you have a billion or just a million.

Its one thing to be wealthy doing what you do best. Its another thing to impose your will on EVERYBODY, like he has been. He could probably afford to put a stranglehold on the food supply. That, or drastically change what the food supply is. Probably make sure no farting cows walk his land.
 
Ill admit that sounds like alot of land and it is but if you brake it down i think thats about 350sq miles of land in 18 different states so thats about 20sq miles per state, doesnt sound to scary to me.
 
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Seems like a wise investment on his part, I would be searching for acreage that included senior water-rights to nearby water sources. Gates strikes me as a decent human being who cares about the less fortunate in the world...
The "no more of those being created" approach to investing strikes me as a good idea. Warren Buffet's investment in a trans-continental railroad for example.
 
As far as tillable land goes in Wa bill gates is a small timer, his companies own what is called 100 circle farms down by patterson in Benton county. It's roughly 17k acres of irrigated crops and rangeland. Compare that to the Mormon church which owns almost 100k acres in the same area :eek: I agree to the notions above that buying land is one of the wisest investments a man can make, I myself have been doing that since our first home purchase and hope to have hundreds by the time I retire. However that too doesn't change my opinion of gates and his eugenics ideas, as far as I'm concerned that dude should worry about his dang self and stay out of other people lives, especially when it comes to everything that's happening in our world regardless of personal feelings put in the mix, he has played far to large of a role in vaccine production and his opinions on covid. Yeah, that'll be the day when I listen to a software engineer about medical science.I compare that to a sandal wearing vegan coming to my place to tell me how to castrate piglets.
 
My apologies to the OP for getting off topic regarding Bill Gates...
When I think of which group of people on earth are most in need of some help, I think children in Africa etc. I am aware of no individual who has invested more in helping them then Gates.
He does not prioritize helping only people who look like him and who share his religious / philosophical views.. He does the research and determines where his investment will save the most lives (eliminate malaria third world / save children)...
I am sure Gates has plenty of faults.
 
Conspiracy theories or not regarding Gates.

The point is that the billionaires are buying up land - regardless of other motivations they may have, it is important to have such land, and to protect it. I have mentioned a number of times that we are headed towards some bad times, and that those who have the means for food production will be in possession of an very valuable and important resource, even if it is just enough acreage to produce food for themselves.
 

If I had billions, I would do the same thing; I wouldn't be gold plating my toilets, I would be buying farm and forest land, and not just in the USA, I would also buy in Canada and New Zealand.

Land, especially arable land, is a finite resource that will only increase in value, especially as the world population grows and climate change causes food shortages.
Unless the goverment decides to take it from you, allow others to take it from you or render it unsellable. Maybe unlikely, maybe not.
 
Unless the goverment decides to take it from you, allow others to take it from you or render it unsellable. Maybe unlikely, maybe not.

Not just the government.

If people in the city get desperate for food/water and evacuate from the city, they may be targeting farms.

But what is the alternative? I don't want to be a refugee. I don't want to be stuck in an urban area depending on others for food and water.
 
I think a bigger, more immediate threat to agriculture in America is the trend of Wall Street investment groups searching out and purchasing water rights in the Western states. From their perspective, this is a commodity that is currently vastly under-priced. They want to own sources of fresh water and raise the price to consumers expotentionaly.
 
I think a bigger, more immediate threat to agriculture in America is the trend of Wall Street investment groups searching out and purchasing water rights in the Western states. From their perspective, this is a commodity that is currently vastly under-priced. They want to own sources of fresh water and raise the price to consumers expotentionaly.

They know that water is an even more finite and valuable natural resource - one that will be in higher demand than it is even today. There are already conflicts being fought over land and water.
 
They know that water is an even more finite and valuable natural resource - one that will be in higher demand than it is even today. There are already conflicts being fought over land and water.

agreed, honestly I am not concerned with wealthy Americans owning ag lands and timber land. Some of the more surprising agricultural buyouts in our lifetimes have been that there are Saudi oil tycoons who own large water banks in the us or that Smithfield (largest producer of pork products in our nation) is owned by a Chinese corporation. These are some frightening times to be in any part of the ag business.
 
Anyone who drives south to Disneyland on I-5 in California has seen the irrigation canals. The largest farm landowner in that area is Standard Oil. The irrigation system was built using taxpayer money and a private company owns most of that water. Kettlman city thru the cotton fields of Bakersfield is 60% theirs.
I was a farmer in the 70's , we put in a bid to farm Simplot and Tagares property in the Dallas Oregon. Their potatoes, hogs, beef, alfalfa were under contract with McDonalds. That was 1976, New York investment corporation owned the property.
Largest farm ownership in Oregon . Follow this link to educate yourselves.

 

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