Results: Largest Landowners in Rural America

While there have been allegations that Chinese entities were buying U.S. farmland at an alarming rate, a recent NBC News review of documents filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that in the past year and a half (since the start of 2022), Chinese entities had purchased only 1,400 acres -- about 2.2 square miles -- in 35 states in a country with 1.3 billion acres of agricultural land. Did you know this before today's survey?

Similar fear-mongering began to surface last year surrounding multi-billionaire Bill Gates. Whispers on social media spread, stating that the Microsoft cofounder was buying up the majority of American farmland, a claim that was quickly debunked. Currently, Gates is estimated to own 275,000 acres, according to The Land Report magazine's 2022 Land Report 100 reviewed by 24/7 Wall St. He may be among the largest single private owners of U.S. land used for farming, grazing, timber harvesting, wildlife conservation, or other purposes, but he is nowhere near the top of the list. The top 10 biggest private U.S. landowners' acreage far exceeds those owned by Gates. Did you think Bill Gates was the biggest rural landowner in the U.S.?

Based on information from published reports, online databases, tax records, and information provided by various landowners, it has been determined who the 50 biggest landowners are. They include only rural land holdings, and to make the list, ownership must be deeded, not leased. Some of these landowners also lease significant tracts of pastureland from the federal government. Did you know that Bill Gates is the 41st largest rural landowner in the U.S.?

I'm not going to address every one of the largest rural landowners in the U.S. (please feel free to read the source article for more information). I'll just focus on the top ten in the rest of the survey series. Is that a reasonable approach?