Holt County Assessor Timothy Wallinger couldn’t remember a bigger sale in recent years. “In the last 10 years, we have had three or four big guys in the county that have bought up a lot of land, but they bought those in individual tracts, maybe two or three tracts at a time, not 36 at once,” he said. “We haven’t had anybody buy that much at one time, but we’ve had guys put that much together in small segments over two or three or four years.”John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union, said large farmland purchases like some of Gates’ acquisitions in Nebraska can make it difficult for local farmers, especially those trying to get into the business or expand enough to survive. “When you have somebody like Bill Gates come in, even the local big guys with deep pockets can’t compete,” he said. “And once you put this land into very big parcels, it rarely breaks up.”

Source: Daily Sun January 25, 2021 18:11 UTC