NBA star Kyrie Irving made a controversial claim on a recent Twitch stream that Bill Gates owns a majority of the land and water in the United States.
“I still think it’s weird that, you know, the Gates family, or Bill Gates, owns a lot of the land in North Dakota. I think that’s weird. He owns a majority of the water in the United States. I think that’s weird.”
The Dallas Mavericks star’s statement has sparked debate online, with many raising concerns about U.S. billionaires having control over natural resources.
RELATED STORIES
Certainly, Gates is the largest private owner of farmland in the United States, according to The Land Report cited by Fadeaway World. As of 2021, the billionaire philanthropist owned roughly 270,000 acres of farmland spread across more than a dozen states, including Louisiana, Arkansas, Nebraska, and Washington. He uses the land to grow agricultural products such as potatoes, carrots, soybeans, and corn.
It is significant to note that this number represents just 0.03% of the 895 million acres of total American farmland, as stated by the USDA. All in all, the United States’ total land area is around 2.3 billion acres, and while Gates does hold a lot of farmland, it is definitely not the “majority” of U.S. land.
Moreover, the water system in the U.S. is a “decentralized, highly regulated domain that no single person or entity can ‘own’ in any meaningful way,” Fadeaway World reported.
Author Seamus Bruner likely shared why Kyrie believes that Gates also owns most of the water in the U.S.
“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 the irrigation) and fertilizer, Gates has been hunting for sizable interests in water and water treatment — a crucial component when seeking to control the agricultural industry,” Bruner stated in 2023.
Microsoft cofounder Gates, who long ranked as America’s richest person, recently dropped partly due to philanthropic giving. This year, his wealth was estimated at $128 billion, according to Forbes.
In May, Gates announced that he’ll give away almost all of his remaining wealth by the end of 2045.
He has also recently pledged to donate some of his fortune to Africa, focusing on the fight against poverty and improving health and education.
Three years ago, the tech billionaire shared his interest in amassing farmland.
“I own less than 1/4000 of the farmland in the U.S. I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs. There isn’t some grand scheme involved — in fact, all these decisions are made by a professional investment team,” he said.
