From ... in Awareness Research Social issues Environmental — Mar 12, 2021

Bill Gates the farmer

Bill Gates has been buying up farmland across the U.S. He currently owns 242,000 acres of farmland, plus another 27,000 acres of nonagricultural land

Unbeknown to most, Bill Gates has been buying up farmland across the U.S. through various subsidiary companies. At present, he owns about 242,000 acres of farmland, plus another 27,000 acres of non agricultural land.

While many media outlets claim this makes Gates the biggest farmland owner in the U.S.,¹ that may be an exaggeration, seeing how there are at least 50 other families that own far greater landmasses, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.² According to a USA Today investigation³ published in November 2019, Bezos owns a respectable 420,000 acres, most of it located in Texas.

Is Bill Gates Too Powerful?

Either way, Gates certainly owns a sizeable chunk of U.S. farmland, which places him, yet again, in a position to have a significant impact on the direction of American agriculture and food production. In the video above, Russell Brand reviews some of these controversies.

Were Gates a proponent of organics, his land ownership would probably be seen as a good thing, but he’s anything but. On the contrary, not only is he a longtime proponent of GMOs and toxic agricultural chemicals, he’s also gone on record urging Western nations to switch to 100% synthetic lab-grown imitation beef, and has railed against legislative attempts to make sure fake meats are properly labeled, since that will slow down public acceptance.⁴

He’s also in favor of transitioning to other fake and unnatural food sources, such as a microbe found in a Yellowstone geyser. Rich in protein, this microbe can “be turned into a variety of foods with a small carbon footprint," Gates says.⁵ Not surprisingly, Gates is financially invested in many of his proposed “solutions” to the world’s problems, be it hunger, disease, viral pandemics or climate change.

As noted in a long and detailed article by The Defender about several of Gates’ more questionable endeavors:⁶

“Thomas Jefferson believed that the success of America’s exemplary struggle to supplant the yoke of European feudalism with a noble experiment in self-governance depended on the perpetual control of the nation’s land base by tens of thousands of independent farmers, each with a stake in our democracy.

So at best, Gates’ campaign to scarf up America’s agricultural real estate is a signal that feudalism may again be in vogue. At worst, his buying spree is a harbinger of something far more alarming — the control of global food supplies by a power-hungry megalomaniac with a Napoleon complex.”

Master and Commander of Failed Agriculture

The Defender goes on to detail Gates’ “long-term strategy of mastery over agriculture and food production globally,” starting with his support of GMOs in 1994. Ever since that time, Gates’ “philanthropic” approaches to hunger and food production have been built around his technology, chemical, pharmaceutical and oil industry partners, thereby ensuring that for every failed rescue venture, he gets richer nonetheless.

“As with Gates’ African vaccine enterprise, there was neither internal evaluation nor public accountability,” The Defender writes.⁷ “The 2020 study⁸ ‘False Promises: The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)’ is the report card on the Gates’ cartel’s 14-year effort.

The investigation concludes that the number of Africans suffering extreme hunger has increased by 30 percent in the 18 countries that Gates targeted. Rural poverty has metastasized dramatically …

Under Gates’ plantation system, Africa’s rural populations have become slaves on their own land to a tyrannical serfdom of high-tech inputs, mechanization, rigid schedules, burdensome conditions, credits and subsidies … The only entities benefiting from Gates’ program are his international corporate partners.”

Gates Is a Corporate Globalist, Not a Philanthropist

AGRA was launched in 2006 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. However, while touting a “green revolution” approach to ease hunger in Africa, it’s hard to imagine a less sustainable or destructive solution. As reported in “False Promises”:⁹

“[AGRA] promised to double the agricultural yields and incomes of 30 million small-scale food producer households by 2020, thus halving both hunger and poverty in the focus countries. To achieve these goals, AGRA received over one billion U.S. dollars — mainly from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but also from governments like the U.S., U.K. and Germany.

The study issues AGRA a decidedly negative report card: yield increases for key staple crops in the years before AGRA were just as low as during AGRA. Instead of halving hunger, the situation in the 13 focus countries has worsened since AGRA was launched …

AGRA in fact harms small-scale food producers, for example by subjecting them to high levels of debt. In Zambia and Tanzania, small-scale food producers were unable to repay the loans for fertilizer and hybrid seeds after the first harvest.

AGRA projects also restrict the freedom of choice for small-scale food producers to decide for themselves what they want to grow. This has dramatic effects on crop diversity. AGRA’s focus is on the one-sided cultivation of maize. Traditional climate-resistant and nutrient-rich crops have thus declined …

Moreover, AGRA lobbies governments on behalf of agricultural corporations to pass legislation that will benefit fertilizer producers and seed companies instead of strengthening small-scale food production and alternative structures.”

Rescue Technologies That Aren’t

It’s these kinds of self-serving endeavors that have earned Gates the unofficial title of the most dangerous philanthropist in the world. As noted by AGRA Watch,¹⁰ Vandana Shiva, Ph.D., and others, Gates’ philanthropy creates several new problems for each one he promises to solve, and can best be described as “philanthrocapitalism.”

As noted in the AGRA Watch article, “Philanthrocapitalism: The Gates Foundation’s African Programs Are Not Charity,” philanthrocapitalists:¹¹

“… often expect financial returns or secondary benefits over the long term from their investments in social programs. Philanthropy becomes another part of the engine of profit and corporate control. The Gates Foundation's strategy for 'development' actually promotes neoliberal economic policies and corporate globalization.”

In the featured video, Brand also quotes Shiva, co-founder of Regeneration International, who had the following to say about Gates’ efforts to improve farming in India:

“When Bill Gates forced his ‘rescue’ technologies on Indian farmers, the only one to benefit was Gates and his multinational partners. He gave money to the government and a company called Digital Green, and made extravagant promises to digitally transform Indian agriculture.

Then, with the cooperation of his purchased government officials, Gates put cameras and electronic sensors in the homes and fields of Indian farmers. He used their cell phones, which he gave them for free, and his fiber optic and 5G installations, which he persuaded the Indian Telecom Company to finance — to catalogue, study and steal farmers’ crop data, indigenous practices and agricultural knowledge for free.

Then he sold it back to them as new data. Instead of digitally transforming farms as he promised, he transformed Indian farmers into digital information. He privatized their seeds and harvested the work of the public system.

He ripped out their knowledge assets and heirloom genetics, and installed GMO seeds and other ridiculous practices. His clear agenda was to drive small farmers from the land and eventually mechanize and privatize food production.”

Sustainability and Globalism Are at Odds

Again and again, Gates’ globalist approach to farming has had devastating consequences for food and environmental sustainability in general and local food security in particular. India and Africa are just two of the most obvious examples. It just doesn’t work. It is profitable for Gates and his corporate allies, though, and furthers the technocratic plan [see references] to control the world by owning all the world’s resources.

The Gates-funded World Economic Forum, founded by technocrat figurehead Klaus Schwab, is just one of the global nongovernmental agencies that help promote Gates’ destructive agricultural and fake food agenda. As reported by The Defender, the Great Reset was officially unveiled during a World Economic Forum summit in May 2020:¹²

“It is a vision for transferring the world into a totalitarian and authoritarian surveillance state manipulated by technocrats to manage traumatized populations, to shift wealth upward, and serve the interests of elite billionaire oligarchs.”

Every conceivable aspect of life and society is scheduled to be “reset” according to their plan, including global food policies. Leading that charge is an organization called the EAT Forum, which describes itself as the “Davos for food”.
EAT Forum is co-founded by the Wellcome Trust, an organization funded by and strategically linked to GlaxoSmithKline, a vaccine maker in which Gates himself is financially invested.

The EAT Forum’s largest initiative is called FReSH, which aims to transform the food system as a whole. Project partners in this venture include Bayer, Cargill, Syngenta, Unilever and Google. According to The Defender, “The EAT Forum works with these companies to ‘add value to business and industry’ and ‘set the political agenda.’”

Dismantle the Globalist Machine That Undermines Success

If sustainability and food security is the goal — not to mention individual freedom and liberty — then we must dismantle the globalist machine and return to historically proven methods that are sustainable and productive. As noted by The Defender:¹⁴

“African agricultural practices have evolved from the land over 10,000 years in forms that promote crop diversity, decentralization, sustainability, private property, self-organization and local control of seeds. The personal freedom inherent in these localized systems leaves farm families making their own decisions: the masters on their lands, the sovereigns of their destinies.

Continuous innovation by millions of small farmers maximized sustainable yields and biodiversity. In his ruthless reinvention of colonialism, Gates spent $4.9 billion dollars to dismantle this ancient system and replace it with high-tech corporatized and industrialized agriculture, chemically dependent monocultures, extreme centralization and top-down control.

He forced small African farms to transition to imported commercial seeds, petroleum fertilizers and pesticides. Gates built the supply chain infrastructure for chemicals and seeds and pressured African governments to spend huge sums on subsidies and to use draconian penalties and authoritarian control to force farmers to buy his expensive inputs and comply with his diktats.”

The end result should have been foreseeable, yet Gates forged ahead nonetheless. By replacing traditional nutritious crops with industrial cash crops — staples in processed food [see references] manufacturing, such as corn and soy — global commodity traders and junk food manufacturers profited while locals had little to eat.

On top of that, the heavy focus on chemicals destroyed the soils, resulting in a decline in both nutrition and productivity. All the while, organizations that are actually succeeding in furthering agricultural strategies with proven sustainability have not received a single dime from Gates.

At the same time that Gates is promoting the destruction of our natural climate systems with his foolhardy agricultural policies, he has invested in a variety of climate change technologies aimed at reducing the amount of sunlight that reaches the earth,^15,16 the side effects of which have the potential to wreak far more damage on global agriculture than anything we’ve seen so far.

Regenerative Food and Farming Is the Answer

As noted by Shiva, “Regenerative agriculture provides answers to the soil crisis, the food crisis, the climate crisis and the crisis of democracy.”¹⁷ So, just what is regenerative farming? In the words of Ronnie Cummins, founder and director of the Organic Consumers Association:

“Regenerative agriculture and animal husbandry is the next and higher stage of organic food and farming, not only free from toxic pesticides, GMOs, chemical fertilizers, and factory farm production, and therefore good for human health; but also regenerative in terms of the health of the soil, the environment, the animals, the climate, and rural livelihoods as well.”

A leading organization for this movement is Regeneration International,¹⁸ which currently has 400 affiliates in more than 60 countries. They’re working to identify “best practices” around the globe to facilitate the scale-up of regenerative farming everywhere.

Ultimately, the goal is to have regenerative agriculture be the norm rather than a niche alternative to the chemical-based degenerative food, farming and land use system that’s currently dominating.

You can contribute to and speed this process by being selective about where you buy your food and the kinds of foods you buy, and/or by starting your own regenerative garden. For gardening tips and general guidance, see “Regenerative Gardening and Living, an Online Program.”

Regeneration International has a handy regenerative farm map that can help you find local producers of various foodstuffs around the globe. If you live in the U.S., the following organizations can also help you find local sources of farm-fresh foods.

•Demeter USA — Demeter-USA.org provides a directory of certified Biodynamic farms and brands.

•Weston A. Price Foundation — Weston A. Price has local chapters in most states, and many of them are connected with buying clubs in which you can easily purchase organic foods, including grass fed raw dairy products like milk and butter.

•The Cornucopia Institute — The Cornucopia Institute maintains web-based tools rating all certified organic brands of eggs, dairy products and other commodities, based on their ethical sourcing and authentic farming practices separating CAFO "organic" production from authentic organic practices.

•American Grassfed Association (AGA) — The goal of the American Grassfed Association is to promote the grass fed industry through government relations, research, concept marketing and public education.

Their website also allows you to search for AGA approved producers certified according to strict standards that include being raised on a diet of 100% forage; raised on pasture and never confined to a feedlot; never treated with antibiotics or hormones; and born and raised on American family farms.

•Grassfed Exchange — The Grassfed Exchange has a listing of producers selling organic and grass fed meats across the U.S.

Biotech Companies Gain Power by Taking Over the Government

There is no doubt in my mind that GMOs and the toxic chemicals used along with them pose a serious threat to the environment and our health, yet government agencies turn a blind eye and refuse to act — and the reason is very clear: They are furthering the interests of the biotech giants.

It is well known that there is a revolving door between government agencies and biotech companies like Monsanto-now-Bayer. Consider the hypocrisy of the FDA. On paper, the U.S. may have the strictest food safety laws in the world governing new food additives, but this agency has repeatedly allowed GMOs and their accompanying pesticides and herbicides like Roundup to evade these laws.

In fact, the only legal basis for allowing GE foods to be marketed in the U.S. is the FDA’s claim that these foods are inherently safe, a claim which is patently ridiculous. Documents released as a result of a lawsuit against the FDA reveal that the agency's own scientists warned their superiors about the detrimental risks of GE foods. But their warnings fell on deaf ears.

The influence of the biotech giants is not limited to the U.S. In a June 2017 article, GMWatch revealed [see references] that 26 of the 34 members of the National Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology of Argentina (CONABIA) are either employed by chemical technology companies or have major conflicts of interest.

You may be aware that Argentina is one of the countries where single-crop fields of GE cotton, corn and soy dominate the countryside. Argentina is also a country facing severe environmental destruction. Argentines are plagued with health issues, including degenerative diseases and physical deformities. It would appear that the rapid expansion of GE crops and the subsequent decline in national health indicators are intrinsically linked.

Don't Be Duped by Industry Shills!

Biotech companies’ outrageous attempts to push for their corporate interests extend far beyond the halls of government. In a further effort to hoodwink the public, Monsanto/Bayer and their cohorts have been caught zealously spoon-feeding scientists, academics and journalists with questionable studies that depict them in a positive light.

By hiring “third-party experts,” biotech companies are able to take information of dubious validity and present it as independent and authoritative. It’s a shameful practice that is far more common than anyone would like to think. One notorious example of this is Henry Miller, who was thoroughly outed as a Monsanto shill during the 2012 Proposition 37 GMO labeling campaign in California.

Miller, falsely posing as a Stanford professor, promoted GE foods during this campaign. In 2015, he published a paper in Forbes Magazine attacking the findings of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a branch of the World Health Organization, after it classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. After it was revealed that Miller’s work was in fact ghost written by Monsanto, Forbes not only fired him, but also removed all of his work from its site.

Industry front groups also abound. The Genetic Literacy Project and the American Council on Science and Health were both Monsanto-funded before Bayer bought Monsanto. Whether that funding continues under Bayer is left to be seen, but other “trusted” sources were also caught taking Monsanto money.

For example, WebMD, a website that is often presented as a trustworthy source of "independent and objective" health information, was exposed acting as a lackey for Monsanto by using its influence to promote corporate-backed health strategies and products, displaying advertisements and advertorials on Big Biotechs’ behalf, furthering the biotech industry’s agenda — all for the sake of profit.

But even with underhanded tactics to peddle their toxic products, biotechs are now unable to hide the truth: Genetic engineering will in no way, shape or form make the world a better place. It will not solve world hunger. It will not increase farmers’ livelihoods. And it most certainly will not do any good for your health — and may in fact prove to be detrimental.

Here's What to Do

So now the question is: Will you continue supporting the corrupt, toxic and unsustainable food system that Big Biotech, Monsanto/Bayer and their industry shills and profit-hungry lackeys have painstakingly crafted? It is largely up to all of us, as consumers, to loosen and break their tight hold on our food supply. The good news is that the tide has turned.

As consumers worldwide become increasingly aware of the problems linked to GE crops and the toxic chemicals, herbicides and pesticides used on them, more and more people are proactively refusing to eat these foods. There’s also strong growth in the global organic and grass fed sectors. This just proves one thing: We can make a difference if we steadily work toward the same goal.

One of the best things you can do is to buy your foods from a local farmer who runs a small business and uses diverse methods that promote regenerative agriculture.

You can also join a community supported agriculture (CSA) program, where you can buy a “share” of the vegetables produced by the farm, so you get a regular supply of fresh food. I believe that joining a CSA is a powerful investment not only in your own health, but in that of your local community and economy as well.

In addition, you should also adopt preventive strategies that can help reduce the toxic chemical pollution [see references] that assaults your body.

Recommended sites for trustworthy non-GMO:

Monsanto, Bayer and their allies want you to think that they control everything, but they do not. It’s you, the masses, who hold the power in your hands. Let’s all work together to topple the biotech industry’s house of cards. Remember — it all starts with shopping smart and making the best food purchases for you and your family.

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