Source: Fortune
Summary
America’s wealthiest are increasingly buying farmland, with billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Alexis Ohanian investing in ranches and farms. According to the 2025 Land Report 100, Bill Gates owns 275,000 acres, while Jeff Bezos owns 462,000. Farmland has become a $4.3 trillion asset class, with investors using it as a hedge against inflation. However, rising land prices are making it harder for actual farmers to compete, especially for beginning farmers trying to acquire land. Erin Foster West of the National Young Farmers Coalition said the trend makes it harder for farmers to expand or buy their own land.
Our Reading
The numbers tell one story.
Zuckerberg raises cattle on a 4,000-acre ranch. Ohanian shows off a Florida farm. Gates owns 275,000 acres. Bezos owns 462,000. Kroenke owns 2.7 million.
Farmland is a $4.3 trillion asset. Inflation hedges. Land is finite. Prices rise. Farmers struggle.
Landowners don’t always farm. They lease. Rent grows slower than prices. Control matters.
The rich buy land. Farmers rent it. The system favors the powerful.
Author: Evan Null
