Dive Brief:
- The produce industry is abuzz with reports that Bill Gates is buying up Georgia farmland that produces the Vidalia onion crop.
- Rumors of Gates' interest in the land has circulated for two years, following the sale of one of the major players in the area, Coggins Farms, to a mysterious entity with a mailing address in Kirkland, WA. Now one of the biggest names in Vidalia onions, Stanley Farms, has announced that it and its subsidiaries have been sold to an entity using that same post office box in Kirkland.
- Neither the Microsoft founder nor his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have responded to press inquiries.
Dive Insight:
The Bill-Gates-is-buying-onions tale sounds like an urban legend. But noted myth-debunking site Snopes doesn't say a thing about Vidalia onions. More importantly, there's clearly something going on in Vidalia.
The latest story on the rumors from the Produce News tells a strange tale of an email involving one Derek Yurosek, whose name is mentioned by growers as a possible representative of Gates. That email was forwarded among a group people associated with an investment group called Cottonwood AG, which may or may not be associated with the Gates Foundation. The email, which urged readers "Please do not respond" was also forwarded, perhaps inadvertently, to the Produce News.
About the only thing that is certain in this crazy tale is that Gates has been quite open about his interest in agricultural research.