'Yellowstone' in real life: From Chinese billionaires to tech tycoons, the battle for America's land has begun
SOLANO COUNTY: It's kind of like 'Yellowstone' in real life how the conflict over American land has played out.
The popular TV show 'Yellowstone' follows the Dutton family, who run the biggest ranch in Montana. Texas, Oregon, Utah, and Montana are just a few of the places where the show has been filmed.
The Dutton family, however, is not real, and neither is the show.
The battle for America's land
Farmers who live close to the land that Silicon Valley billionaires purchased with the intention of building a "utopian city" are concerned that the development will ruin their way of life.
Renderings for the California Forever project that depicted a 50,000-acre utopian city supported by tech titans and billionaires were made public on Friday.
Farmers and ranchers who live close to the land purchased by "Flannery Associates" protested the idea immediately and condemned the group's conduct.
"They are so arrogant it's amazing," stated a farmer who spoke to SF Chronicle.
"They know what they are going to do but they don't even know anyone who lives here?"
Currently, Solano County, which is located roughly 60 miles northeast of San Francisco, has California Forever as its major landowner. The group paid over $800 million for the land.
What did local ranchers in Solano County say?
Local ranchers in Solano County, Jeannie McCormack, and Al Medvitz, told the Bay Area newspaper that they are concerned about how long their ranch will last once the tech giants have swept up the area around them.
"If they want a new city, San Jose is ripe," Medvitz stated. "Fix what's there."
Their six-square-mile ranch is only a short distance from the agricultural area where California Forever is expected to be built.
It also has about 2,000 sheep and vineyards of wheat, barley, alfalfa, and grapes. The McCormack Ranch is now "totally surrounded by Flannery."
"That means we have new issues because we have to deal with neighbors who have no experience or expertise in agriculture," Medvitz stated.
How does the new proposal impact Solano County?
McCormack's grandfather established the ranch in 1896, and her family has lived and worked there for the past 125 years.
It is one of the few ranches that does not have any windmills from the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, which pays farmers $25,000 per windmill each year.
Medvitz expressed concern that the development will have a significant detrimental impact on Solano County and family-owned farmers.
Farming families over multiple generations have a "profound bond to the land."
"With this new proposal and the way the new people are behaving, all of that is going to be lost," Medvitz noted. "For a fantasy."
How did Texas ranchers 'defeat' Chinese billionaire?
Chinese billionaire Sun Guangxin has purchased more than 130,000 acres of farmland in Texas, raising concerns about national security. According to DailyMail, ranchers in Texas are on the verge of forcing Sun out of the state.
In a major foreign land grab in the Lone Star State, Sun Guangxin, who has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), paid roughly $110 million to purchase large tracts of Texas real estate between 2016 and 2018.
But according to DailyMail, he has already sold the most contentious portion of his holdings, a 15,000-acre ranch with plans for a 46-turbine wind farm, and is now preparing to sell the rest of his sizable Texan empire.
Since Sun has a history of being loyal to the Chinese government, opponents of the wind farm argue that giving him access to the national power grid could jeopardize energy security.
Is the Chinese billionaire Sun Guangxin a threat to national security?
Additionally, according to a report by former CIA officials, Sun's proposed wind farm could constitute a threat to national security and he would probably be seen by US authorities as an agent of the Chinese state because of his close ties to the CCP and its military.
"We're all red-blooded Americans," Dallas Barrington, a Texan attorney and rancher, stated. "That means we believe in America - and that we stand up against enemies of the state," as cited by Dail Mail.