Hightower: Wall Street's Fake Farmers Are Harvesting Sweet Profits

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http://www.alternet.org/hightower-wall-streets-fake-farmers-are-harvesting-sweet-profits



We know from the childhood song that Old MacDonald had a farm. But e-i-e-i-o — look who’s got his farm now. It’s outfits like American Farmland, Farmland Partners, and BlackRock.

These aren’t dirt farmers wearing overalls and muddy boots. They’re Wall Street hucksters in Armani suits and Gucci loafers.


The latest fast-buck fad for high-roller investment trusts, hedge funds, and venture capital speculators is “farming.” Not that these dude ranch dandies are actually plowing and planting.

No, no — these are soft-hands people, buying up farmland with billions of rich investors’ dollars, then tilling the tax laws and threshing the farmers who do the real cultivation.