Warning! The Wealthy Are Buying Farm Land. Why?

The billionaire former telecommunications and media giant, John C. Malone, also known as the “Cable Cowboy,” owns two point two million acres of land. He’s been acquiring land for years and is the largest private landowner in the United States. As a point of reference, you could put the entire state of Rhode Island two times in the amount of land he owns. Other mega-wealthy individuals have recently been following in the Cable Cowboys’ footsteps.

Ted Turner owns two million acres in New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Georgia. LA Rams owner, Stan Kroenke, owns almost one point four million acres. Peter Buck, the founding partner of Subway sandwiches, owns one point two million acres. Bill Gates now owns enough land to fit all of the city of New York on it, and his land purchases have been almost entirely fertile farmland.

Jeff Bezos has double Bill Gates’ total acreage at four hundred and twenty thousand acres. The list goes on and on with the top twenty-five landowners, Gates isn’t even in that list, accounting for a whopping twenty-three million, four hundred fifty-one-thousand, six hundred and eighty-two acres. That’s roughly the same area as all of Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined. And that’s just these 25 owners. So, why are the ultra-wealthy continuing to snap up farmland, and even more importantly, how may this soon impact you?