COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE

DUSTYJOHNSON
SOUTH DAKOTA COMMITTEEON TRANSPORTATION &
1714 LONGWORTH BUILDING INFRASTRUCTURE
WASHINGTON, DC 20515
(202) 225-2801
(855) 225-2801

EM AIL VIA WEBSITE:

dustyjohnson.house.gov
Congress of the United States
House of Representatives

July 20, 2022

The Honorable David Scott

Chair
House Agriculture Committee
1301 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chair Scott,

I write to request you call Mr. Bill Gates before the Agriculture Committee to testify regarding his farming
interests and practices.

It has become clear in recent reports1 that Mr. Gates is the largest private farmland owner in America –
he now owns nearly 270,000 acres of farmland across 19 states. Comparatively, the average farm size in
2021 was 445 acres, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research
Service2. I believe that Mr. Gates’ holdings across much of our nation is a significant portion that the
Committee should not ignore.

The Committee should be interested in Mr. Gates’ ownership and plans for his acreage, as he has been a
leading voice in the push for “synthetic meat.” In 2021, Mr. Gates was quoted to say “all rich countries
should move to 100 percent synthetic beef”3 to combat climate change.

As the Ranking Member of the Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee and the sole
Congressional Member from South Dakota – where there are over four beef cattle for every resident4 – I
am especially interested in Mr. Gates’ agricultural aspirations.

Thank you for your leadership, and I look forward to working with you to determine the future of farming
in the United States.

Sincerely,

______________________
Dusty Johnson
Member of Congress

1
https://landreport.com/2021/01/bill-gates-americas-top-farmland-owner/
2
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/ag-and-food-statistics-charting-the-essentials/farming-and-farm-
income/#:~:text=In%20the%20most%20recent%20survey,recorded%20in%20the%20early%201970s
3
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/02/14/1018296/bill-gates-climate-change-beef-trees-microsoft/
4
https://www.sdbeef.org/all-about-
beef#:~:text=South%20Dakota%20Facts&text=South%20Dakota%20is%20home%20to,4%20million%20head%20of%20cat
tle.