Bill Gates is buying up land from small farmers to monopolize food supply — not to save the planet, author claims

Bill Gates is attempting to monopolize the nation's food supply by backing efforts to bankrupt small independent farmers, then buying up big swaths of their land, author Seamus Bruner claimed in his recently released book, "Controligarchs."

Bruner's new book accused Gates of lining his pockets by spearheading an effort to move away from traditional farming under the guise of saving the planet. A chapter about the "war on farmers" explains how Gates and other technology industry moguls are attempting to take over the country's food supply to elevate their net worth.

The Microsoft cofounder has supported bans on traditional crop nutrients and fertilizers "after Gates and his buddies had secured the intellectual property for the replacement fertilizers," Bruner stated. He accused Gates of "targeting the fertilizer industry" for over a decade while simultaneously "buying up large swaths of American farmland." Farming restrictions and the more costly alternative fertilizers have bankrupted some small independent farmers.

Gates has also invested in Upside Foods, a company creating lab-grown meats, touted as the first synthetic meat company to receive approval from the FDA. Gates, who claimed that cow flatulence contributes significantly to climate change, also invested in other companies creating synthetic food alternatives, including Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. The two companies have over two dozen product patents and more than 100 pending.

In 2021, Gates stated, "I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef. You can get used to the taste difference, and the claim is they're going to make it taste even better over time. Eventually, that green premium is modest enough that you can sort of change the [behavior of] people or use regulation to totally shift the demand."

Gates has reportedly spent over $1 billion on hundreds of thousands of acres of American agricultural land, which has sparked concerns. Earlier this year, he was asked about the purchases and whether he thought there was "a problem with billionaire wealth and how much you can disproportionally acquire?"

"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," Gates responded.

Bruner explained that Gates "is not just buying the land" but also "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," he stated.

Bruner told Fox News Digital, "First, it was patented seeds and patented fertilizers, and now they are patenting meat alternatives. Banning cattle would grant effective monopolies to the alternative protein companies and benefit investors such as Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and even BlackRock. Fake meats are about controlling the food market, not saving the planet."

The Gates Foundation did not respond to a request for comment, Fox News Digital reported.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!