North Dakota AG clears farmland purchase tied to Bill Gates

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The North Dakota attorney general has found the sale of a couple thousand acres of prime farmland to a group tied to Bill Gates complies with a Depression-era law meant to protect family farms because the land is being leased back to farmers. The state’s Republican Attorney General Drew Wrigley had inquired into the land sale and his office issued a letter Wednesday saying the transaction tied to Microsoft’s co-founder complied with the archaic anti-corporate farming law. The law prohibits corporations or limited liability companies from owning farmland or ranchland, but allows individual trusts to own the land if it is leased to farmers.