Some ranchers like raising bison and cattle. However those bison are grazed for slaughter or sold to be fed out for slaughter. AP‘s bison are not being grazed for slaughter. Just because you raise bison doesn’t necessarily mean that your land is no longer agricultural land.
AP does have slaughter & they allow the take of bison in order to manage their herd. Their plans are to grow their herd to a certain number, much how any other livestock producer would grow the genetics and herd size to fit their landscape when starting out.
The genetics behind the AP herd require a slower pace of growth and replacement, so you'll see a lot of dead animals being processed, sent to schools for lunches, donated, etc. That excludes their
bison harvest program that allows for over 30 bison to be removed from their herd each year, with 5 of those opportunities going to disabled veterans.
I find it a bit disingenuous to claim that CRP land is being taken out of production because AP doesn't want to use that contract for emergency haying or grazing and then claiming that they are reducing food production. One could easily argue that without AP, many young ranchers wouldn't be able to have a start because they can't afford the lease on other properties or their own families can't afford to lease at a reduced rate.
The economics of Agriculture are what they are, and AP has a role to play in both the positive and negative space but honestly, the argument that they're taking land out of production is belied by the fact that they pay twice the AUM rate on the per capita tax, and they still pay property taxes while ostensibly increasing participation in ag from younger people.
While their purchasing of land does inflate the overall appraised value, it's also silly to think that they're not getting the best deal that they can for each property they purchase.
So while AP isn't all sunshine & apple juice, it's far from the boogerman you continue to make it out to be. In fact, I'd say if we want to do a direct comparison to the billionaires who are not seriously raising cattle, you'd find a much larger economic impact from AP to local communities leading to better jobs & higher wages than through the Billionaire class that UPOM seems to cater too.