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Wow, off topic but why do the Dutch own so much farmland in America!? That's an unexpected one... -- Ok, I searched around for a few minutes and this was the

Wow, off topic but why do the Dutch own so much farmland in America!? That's an unexpected one... -- Ok, I searched around for a few minutes and this was the best answer I could find: > Stephen Raes, economic minister for the Netherlands embassy in Washington, D.C., explained in an article in USA Today that the Dutch nationalized pension system is about 130 percent the size of that nation’s gross domestic product, thus making it the world’s largest relative to the size of its economy. That pension plan favors conservative investments, such as American farmland, he said, adding that historically Dutch immigrants to the U.S. became Midwest farmers all throughout the 19th century. And apparently, they also own a fair amount of wind energy farms in the US.

pvg 5y ago
The Netherlands is also historically big into industrial agriculture (windmills, greenhouses, reclaimed land, helping invent capitalism, etc) so it all sort of adds up.
petre 5y ago
The Dutch own farmland everywhere where it matters, not just in America, because they do quite efficient industrialized farming. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/holland-agriculture-sustainable-farming https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/holland-... https://www.politico.eu/article/netherlands-farmers-flee-environmental-rules-at-home-settle-other-eu-countries/ https://www.politico.eu/article/netherlands-farmers-flee-env...