An investigation by the Flatwater Free Press revealed a company owned by Bill Gates bought several farms in Nebraska over the past several years.
The investigation revealed that numerous farms, such as Willowdale Farms, Merrick County Farms and Dove Haven Ranch, were once owned by AgCoA, a farmland investment startup previously owned by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. In 2017, the Canadian board sold off its American farmland portfolio, including 22,830 acres in Nebraska, to Mt. Edna Farms, a company associated with billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
Gates has become one of Nebraska’s top landowners, owning approximately 20,000 acres across 19 counties, with the largest chunk in Holt County. The investigation also revealed paperwork filed by Mt. Edna Farms in 2021 showed it used a portion of Gates’ land as collateral for two loans totaling $700 million.
