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In 2022, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk pointed to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates’ farmland expansion and asked a question that keeps surfacing whenever the topic comes up: Why does America’s large land holdings seem to get so little attention?
Posting on X after reports that a Gates-related entity had purchased additional farmland in North Dakota, Kirk framed the issue around scale, ownership, and public awareness.
He wrote:
“Bill Gates recently bought 2,100 acres of farmland in North Dakota, adding to the 270,000 acres he vaguely owns across America.
“China also bought 300 acres of land there, adding 192,000 acres of American soil to its portfolio.
“…and no one seems to care
“Why do we allow this?”
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The Post reported that the Red River Trust, an organization linked to Gates, had acquired about 2,100 acres of potato farmland near Grafton, North Dakota. At the time, Gates’ total holdings were estimated at between 242,000 and 270,000 acres nationwide, making him the largest private rancher in America.
Kirkley tied the Gates purchase to a nearby land acquisition by Chinese chemical company Fufeng Group, which bought about 300 acres for a proposed corn milling facility. That project was later halted when opposition arose over its proximity to military installations, placing the two separate transactions in a broader debate over who owns the agricultural land and why it is important.
Farmland increasingly attracted institutional investors and large private buyers during a period shaped by inflationary concerns and supply chain instability. For some observers, that shift raised questions about consolidation and control. Others saw it as a predictable result of land being taken as a long-term investment asset.
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Gates has addressed questions about his ranch directly. During a Reddit AMA in 2023, he was asked why he was acquiring farmland and allowing the billionaire’s estate to have unequal ownership. “I have less than 1/4000 of the farmland in the United States. I have invested in making these farms more productive and creating more jobs,” he replied. There is no grand plan involved – in fact, all these decisions are made by the professional investment team.
The Farmland portfolio is managed through Cascade Investments LLC, rather than being run by Gates personally. According to The Land Report 100, he owns the largest private farmland in the country, although the land represents only a small portion of the nearly 900 million acres of farmland nationwide.
That distinction is important. The investment decision was not about farming itself, seeing land as a durable asset capable of yielding long-term returns.
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Most people aren’t buying farmland or hiring professional investment teams to manage land portfolios. But the underlying idea behind Gates’ investments — real estate as a long-term income-producing asset — has increasingly filtered down to smaller investors.
Platforms like Arrived allow individuals to invest in fractional shares of residential real estate for as little as $100, giving investors exposure to rental income and property appreciation without having to buy or manage homes. The properties are typically single-family homes rather than farmland, and investors participate passively while professional managers handle operations.
Great investors see land and houses as assets that can produce steady returns over time. Fractional ownership models attempt to make the same asset class accessible to people without the necessary capital or infrastructure to purchase the property.
Kirk’s post asked why ownership at scale attracted limited scrutiny. The answer depends largely on perspective. For some, this raises questions about concentration. For others, it shows how real estate — whether farmland or suburban homes — has increasingly become an investment vehicle rather than a location or resource.
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Finance Advisors helps Americans approach retirement with more clarity by connecting them with vetted, trusted financial advisors who specialize in tax-conscious retirement planning. Rather than focusing solely on yield or investment performance, the platform emphasizes strategies that underwrite after-tax income, sequence of withdrawals, and long-term tax efficiency—factors that can materially affect retirement outcomes. Free to use, financial advisors give individuals with meaningful savings access to a level of planning sophistication historically reserved for high-net-worth households, helping to reduce hidden tax risk and improve long-term financial confidence.
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This article Charlie Kirk said ‘No one cares’ Bill Gates owns over 270,000 acres of US land — ‘Why do we allow this?’ Originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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