> Gates owns approximately 242,000 acres of farmland with assets totaling more than $690m

yeah thats not that much? keyword is private owner. bill gates is one of the wealthiest individuals on earth so of course if he puts a fraction of his net worth into land then he will become the biggest private owner because the other private owners dont have as much money as he does.

he is NOT the biggest land owner in the united states because there are many companies that own tons and tons of land. they just arent being compared here because they are companies, and not "private owners"