Howard Graham Buffett is the second son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett. He has served as a director of numerous major companies (some of which are part-owned by his father’s company, Berkshire Hathaway), worked in industrial agriculture, and operates the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

Family

Howard G. Buffet is the son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett and his first wife, Susan Thompson Buffett. Born on December 16, 1954, Buffett dropped out of three different colleges and worked a series of odd jobs before becoming a farmer for most of his professional life. ¹ Buffett is married to Devon Goss and has five children. ²

Career

Agriculture

Buffett farms 400 acres of his own in Nebraska, while also overseeing a 1,500-acre farm in Illinois. ³ His philanthropic organization, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, also has three research farms which Buffett oversees in Arizona, Illinois, and Nebraska, totaling 9500 acres. ⁴

Law Enforcement

Buffett has worked or volunteered in local law enforcement for years: In 2017, he was appointed Sheriff of Macon County, Illinois. ⁵

Corporate

Outside of his public work, Buffett has served on several corporate boards, including Archer Daniels Midland, The Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc., ConAgra Foods, Lindsay Corporation, Agro Tech Foods, and Sloan Implement. ⁶ Buffett has also served on the board of Berkshire Hathaway, his father’s company, since 1992. Warren Buffet has suggested that he wants Howard to serve as his successor as the company’s next non-executive chairman. ⁷

Other Endeavors

In 1988, Buffett was elected to a position on the Douglas County, Nebraska Board of Commissioners and served a single term ending in 1992. ⁸

Buffett is also an author who has written eight books on conservation and human life, in addition to articles for publications like The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. ¹⁰

Philanthropy

Buffett is the active chairman and chief executive officer of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. The Foundation focuses on grantmaking in three primary advocacy areas: food security, public safety, and conflict mitigation. ¹¹

The Foundation is well known internationally for its projects in food security, specifically in Africa. Buffett has taken an active role in promoting a “Brown Revolution” which focuses on soil fertility and sustainable agriculture. ¹² To fuel this “revolution,” Buffett started the Sequoia Farm Foundation out of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation in 2013. ¹³ The Sequoia Farm Foundation is a separate research firm, which focuses on innovating technology to increase food security through soil preservation. ¹⁴

Buffett’s personal interest in United States law enforcement has directed his foundation’s grantmaking. According to Buffett, the absence of a stable legal order is at the center of nearly every issue. ¹⁵ In 2017 alone, the Buffett Foundation gave $8.6 million in grants to US local and state law enforcement agencies. ¹⁶

Political Activity

Howard G. Buffett is the only member of the Buffett family to register as a Republican. ¹⁷ Buffett has held public office, serving both as a sheriff in Illinois and as a member of the Douglas County, Nebraska Board of Commissioners from 1989-1992.

Though his foundation focuses primarily on international issues, Buffett personally focuses on one large domestic issue: border security. ¹⁸ Buffett owns a ranch in Cochise County, Arizona, and his property ends 300 yards from the Mexico border. ¹⁹ Over the past several years, Buffett has given tens of millions of dollars to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, in addition to arming a private volunteer organization and privately employing law enforcement officers. ²⁰ In spite of his focus on border security, Buffett has remained critical of President Donald Trump, calling his border wall proposal “simplistic.” ²¹ In his 2018 book Our 50-State Border Crisis: How the Mexican Border Fuels the Drug Epidemic in America’s Heartland, Buffett argued that illegal immigration along the Mexican border fuels the drug trade. ²² In 2018, the Buffett Foundation pledged $30 million to social service and rehabilitation programs in Decatur, Illinois to fight addiction. ²³

Donations

Though Buffett says that he is a Republican, Buffett has made political contributions to candidates across the political spectrum with no apparent loyalty to one party. Even in the same state, Buffett does not donate along party lines, giving to both Democrats and Republicans in Nebraska. ²⁴ More recently, Buffett has given to Democrats, including donations to U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) in 2017 and to Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign. ²⁵ In the same year that Buffett donated to Heitkamp’s campaign, he also gave to Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona. ²⁶ Buffett’s political contributions have been relatively small, with only 34 donations reported by the Federal Election Commission in the last 28 years totaling less than $50,000. ²⁷

1. Munk, Nina. “How Warren Buffett’s Son Would Feed the World.” The Atlantic. April 18, 2016. Accessed July 12, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/how-warren-buffetts-son-would-feed-the-world/476385/
2. Friedman, Nicole. “Howard Buffett Looks Beyond an Oracle for Advice.” The Wall Street Journal. May 03, 2019. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.wsj.com/articles/howard-buffett-looks-beyond-an-oracle-for-advice-11556888401.
3. “40 Chances: About the Authors.” 40chances.com. The Howard G. Buffett Foundation. Accessed August 01, 2019. http://www.40chances.com/about-the-authors/.
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6. “40 Chances: About the Authors.” 40chances.com. The Howard G. Buffett Foundation. Accessed August 01, 2019. http://www.40chances.com/about-the-authors/.
7. Spain, William. “Warren Buffett Wants Farmer Son to Succeed Him.” MarketWatch. December 09, 2011. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/warren-buffett-wants-farmer-son-to-succeed-him-2011-12-09?link=MW_home_latest_news.
8. “About.” The Howard G. Buffett Foundation. Accessed September 10, 2019. https://www.thehowardgbuffettfoundation.org/about/.
10. “Howard G. Buffett.” Amazon. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.amazon.com/Howard-G.-Buffett/e/B001K8TXAO/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1386364461&sr=1-2-ent.[/note] His 2013 book “Forty Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World,” which he coauthored with his son Howard Warren Buffett, became a New York Times bestseller. ⁹Buffett, Howard G. “40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World.” Amazon. October 22, 2013. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.amazon.com/40-Chances-Finding-Hungry-World/dp/1451687869.
11. 2017 Annual Report. Howard G. Buffett Foundation. 2017. Accessed July 12, 2019. http://www.thehowardgbuffettfoundation.org/.
12. Gaynor, Tim. “Philanthropist Howard Buffett Backs Brown Revolution in Africa.” Al Jazeera America. February 1, 2015. Accessed July 12, 2019. http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/2/1/philanthropist-howard-buffett-backs-brown-revolution-in-africa.html
13. Gegg-Naeger, Betty Valle. “Playing in the Dirt.” Accessed July 12, 2019. http://www.mafg.net/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=1452.
14. “Driven to Make a True Difference.” AgWeb. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.agweb.com/article/driven-to-make-a-true-difference-naa-charlene-finck/.
15. Totaro, Paola. “Billionaire Heir Howard Buffett on Trump, Money and Drugs.” The Sydney Morning Herald. February 16, 2019. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/billionaire-heir-howard-buffett-on-trump-money-and-drugs-20190212-p50x74.html.
16. Howard G. Buffett Foundation, Return of Private Foundation (Form 990), 2017, Part Fifteen, Line 3.
17. Wooster, Martin Morse. “Warren Buffett: A Wealthy Philanthropist with Some Bad Ideas.” Capital Research

    Center. November 2, 2011. Accessed July 12, 2019. https://capitalresearch.org/article/warren-buffett-a-wealthy-philanthropist-with-some-bad-ideas/

18. Hodai, Beau. “Howard Buffett’s Border War: A Billionaire’s Son Is Spending Millions in Cochise County.” Phoenix New Times. July 03, 2019. Accessed July 12, 2019. https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/howard-buffetts-warren-buffet-son-border-war-cochise-county-11103225
19. Gupta, Ruchi. “Warren Buffett Son, Howard Buffett Invests Big On Border Security.” Citizen Truth. April 24, 2019. Accessed July 12, 2019. https://citizentruth.org/one-mans-border-war-billionaire-son-howard-buffet-and-his-crusade-at-the-border/
20. Gupta, Ruchi. “Warren Buffett Son, Howard Buffett Invests Big On Border Security.” Citizen Truth. April 24, 2019. Accessed July 12, 2019. https://citizentruth.org/one-mans-border-war-billionaire-son-howard-buffet-and-his-crusade-at-the-border/
21. Totaro, Paola. “Billionaire Heir Howard Buffett on Trump, Money and Drugs.” The Sydney Morning Herald. February 16, 2019. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/billionaire-heir-howard-buffett-on-trump-money-and-drugs-20190212-p50x74.html.
22. Fearnow, Benjamin. “Philanthropist Howard Buffett’s New Book Takes Aim at Trump and Obama’s Border Policies.” Newsweek. April 02, 2018. Accessed July 12, 2019. https://www.newsweek.com/howard-buffett-warren-buffett-border-wall-cochise-county-arizona-macon-county-868924
23. “Howard Buffett Announces $30M Illinois Investment to Fight Drug Addiction.” Healthcare Weekly. August 29, 2018. Accessed July 12, 2019. https://healthcareweekly.com/howard-buffett-announces-30m-illinois-investment-to-fight-drug-addiction/.
24. “Browse Individual Contributions: Howard Buffett.” FEC.gov. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Howard Buffett.
25. “Browse Individual Contributions: Howard Buffett.” FEC.gov. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Howard Buffett.
26. “Browse Individual Contributions: Howard Buffett.” FEC.gov. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Howard Buffett.
27. “Browse Individual Contributions: Howard Buffett.” FEC.gov. Accessed August 01, 2019. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Howard Buffett.