The Red River Trust organization, which is connected to billionaire Bill Gates, has received a letter from North Dakota’s attorney general over its recent acquisition of a large potato farm. The office of Attorney General Drew Wrigley alerted the trust to possible state and federal law infractions and requested further details.
Gates, the billionaire tech mogul, and philanthropist whose net worth was pegged by Bloomberg at $113 billion has quietly amassed nearly 270,000 acres of farmland across the country.
According to a publication, an annual study of the nation’s largest landowners, the co-founder of Microsoft is regarded as the greatest private owner of farmland in the country with about 269,000 acres spread across dozens of states.
Bill Gates – largest land owner in the USA.
All rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef. It’s so important that government coercion could be necessary to change attitudes”
“You can sort of change the behavior of people or use regulation to totally shift demand.” pic.twitter.com/XT2qB8cWnc
— Bernie’s Tweets (@BernieSpofforth) June 19, 2022
Peter Headley, who lists himself as the head of farm investment management at Investment Management Co. on his LinkedIn page, is the trustee of the Red River Trust. In a 2020 article by NFU Mutual Charitable Trust, Headley had served as the executive director of a company named Cottonwood, which was referred to as Bill and Melinda Gates’ “ag-investment platform.”
Earlier this week, a letter was sent by Wrigley’s office to Red River Trust in Kansas, corporations or limited liability companies are “prohibited from owning or leasing farmland or ranchland in the state of North Dakota” or “participating in farming or ranching.”
The Bismarck-based TV station KFYR broadcast a copy of the first page, confirming the letter’s existence. The letter, dated June 21, was also delivered to the Grafton, North Dakota, Campbell Farms offices. Adweek reported on June 13 that Red River had acquired the business from the Campbell brothers Bill, Greg, and Tom in November 2021 for $13.5 million in exchange for 2,100 acres of their potato farm.
The letter, issued to Red River trustee Peter Headley, also stated that the statute imposes “some restrictions on the ownership of farmland or ranchland by trusts.” Our office needs to confirm the use of the property by your company and whether it complies with any legal restrictions.
The AG’s office will end its investigation if Red River can demonstrate that it has such an exemption, but if they are found to be in violation of the law, they must sell the land within a year or risk a fine of “up to $100,000,” the letter said.
Watch it here: Youtube/Kip Simpson
Sources: Dailywire, Agweek, Washingtonpost