Bill Gates' purchases of American farmland does more for his bank account than the planet, claims a new book.Controligarchs, written by journalist Seamus Bruner and released last month, says the billionaire's investments in fertilizers and plant-based fake meats won’t slow carbon emissions very much.Bruner says Gates’ purchase of 270,000 acres (109,265 hectares) of US farmland is one part of a potentially profitable “war on farmers.”“The takeover of the food system, like so many other control schemes in this book, began with the Rockefellers and was advanced by Bill Gates,” Bruner writes.“Like most of their monopolies, from oil to software and eventually biotechnology, the takeover of food is all about controlling the intellectual property of food production through trademarks, copyrights and patents.”Bruner explores the Rockefellers’ 'Green Revolution,' a period of great increase in production of food grains in the US. They were enabled by millions of dollars of Rockefeller-funded research in the 1940s, touted to help solve poverty and starvation in the years after the Great Depression.“The Green Revolution was simultaneous proof that problems like poverty and famine could be solved through human innovation and that the solutions, such as genetically modified pesticide-resistant crops, can present new problems,” Bruner writes.The downside was pesticide “pollution, resource exhaustion and the consolidation of small-scale and family-owned farms into giant corporate-controlled farms.”Bruner believes Gates could repeat history as he acquires the intellectual property of food production through a series of trademarks and patents.“Rather than take responsibility for the new problems…the Rockefellers took all the credit for the crop abundance while blaming the new problems on the convenient scapegoat of climate change,” Bruner writes.'Now, the Controligarchs claim they can solve the climate crisis with new patented miracle products that happen to make themselves even richer and, once again, at the expense of small-scale independent farmers.”On a Reddit 'Ask Me Anything' late in 2022, Gates defended himself against charges he was trying to buy “the majority” of American farmland to cause food shortages.“I own less than 1/4,000 of the farmland in the US,” Gates wrote.However, Bruner’s book argues that the millions of dollars Gates invested in Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods would likely have rising stock value should shortages occur. This would only add to the $115.4 billion holdings of the world’s sixth-richest man.“It should come as no surprise that while the peasants are expected to eat fermented fungi, lab-grown meats and maggot milkshakes, the Controligarchs — with their private chefs — have no intention of doing the same,” Bruner writes.“Bill Gates and Warren Buffett famously love eating beef burgers and steaks when Gates visits his mentor [Buffett] in Omaha.”Mark Zuckerberg is little different, despite his investments in alternative protein companies. Bruner says the Facebook founder “likes smoking beef brisket and grilling pork ribs” and says that meats taste "doubly better when you hunt an animal for yourself."Gates’ recent investments in the fertilizer industry coincide with over $1 billion spent on farms and the new technologies they employ.Bruner notes how the restrictions on traditional fertilizer inspired by the United Nations’ Agenda 2030 were actively promoted “after Gates and his buddies had secured the intellectual property for the replacement fertilizers.”“For more than a decade, as he was targeting the fertilizer industry, Bill Gates has also been quietly buying up large swaths of American farmland,” Bruner states.“Gates has spent over $1 billion dollars on farm acquisitions and the Agenda 2030-compliant technologies they now employ.”Gates isn’t just out for land, but also water, Bruner says.“When Gates buys tens of thousands of acres, he is not just buying the land — he is also buying the rights to water below ground.“In addition to farms and fertilizer, Gates has been hunting for sizable interests in water and water treatment — a crucial component when seeking to control the agricultural industry.”In a statement sent to the Daily Mail, a spokesperson for Gates said such Bruner’s claims were “false.”“Bill’s farmland holdings represent less than 1/10th of one percent of the US total. “For more than twenty years, his investment team has included American farmland in its diverse portfolio. “It’s been a sound long-term investment with added value in agriculture and the jobs it generates for families across the country.”
