State clears Bill Gates affiliated trust to buy thousands of acres of ND farmland

(Bismarck, ND) -- A legal entity associated with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is free to move ahead with plans to buy thousands of acres of North Dakota farmland.

This according to state officials, who say Gates' River Trust is purchasing 21 hundred acres of Campbell Farms' farmland for roughly 64 hundred dollars per acre. Authorities say Gates stands as the largest private owner of farmland in the U.S.

Sources say his trust currently owns roughly 269 thousand acres of farmland spread across dozens of states.