Land holds ample opportunities for growth and development, yet you may find that there is more land than there is competition. While Gates is Americas biggest farmland owner, hes far from being the nations largest landowner in general. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Lemmon Holdings, the billionaire spent $80 million to purchase. Beach House in Del Mar, California: $43 Million. But he didn't, Quarterman said. The billionaire knows best mentality detracts from the deep-seated realities of colonialism and white supremacy, and it ignores those who actually know best how to use and live with the land. The land that Gates owns is located in several states and consists primarily of commercial farmland. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times) (Ruth Fremson / The New York Times via Redux Pictures), John Quarterman on his farm in Lowndes County, Ga. (Matt Odom / for NBC News), John Quarterman stands by the Withlacoochee River. His first major purchase was Bell Ranch in New Mexico, a 290,100-acre plain saturated with mesas, rimrock canyons, pastures and a bell-shaped mountain. The Associated Press reports that last week, billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates was cleared to purchase 2,100 acres of rural North Dakota farmland. That land is now largely rented out to various farmers. According to the Land Report 100 Research Team, that figure is currently more than twice that amount, which means Bill Gates, cofounder of Microsoft, has an alter ego: Farmer Bill, the guy who owns more farmland than anyone else in America. Starting in 2012, Gates investment firm began buying family farms in South Georgia. Theres a more cynical calculation. The Microsoft co-founder acquired 14,500 acres of the fertile land in 2018, helping to make him the largest private farmland owner in the US, with total holdings of almost 250,000 acres,. McDonald's french fries, carrots, onions: all of the foods that come Why Is Bill Gates Buying Farmland? How Much Does He Own? - Farmfolio Bill Gates owns massive parcels of farmland. It's not part of his plans According to the Tri-City Herald, 14,500 acres of Eastern Washington farmland was recently sold to the couple for almost $171 millionthats nearly $12,000 an acre. In May, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates revealed in a Twitter statement their decision to end their marriage after 27 years. Xanadu 2.0 in Medina, Washington: Estimated $140-170 Million, Source: Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times. Land will likely never be a bad investment, as long as the land is healthy and properly located. Listen to article. Nor does he put in the back-breaking labor humble people do to grow our food and who get far less praise for it. The 229-acre property was once home to Jenny Craig, founder of the Jenny Craig nutrition company, and was purchased by the Gates with hopes that it would one day be where their daughter Jennifer could train for her equestrian career. Although the sale price has never been made public, the 492-acre home was listed for $8.9 millionand we cant imagine Bill and Melinda doing much haggling. Bill Gates uses farmland as investment vehicle, owning 269,000 acres of land. More surprising, however, was the fact that Bill and Melinda Gates own more private farmland . Bill Gates is now the largest private landowner in the country. In 1994 Bill and Melinda Gates are said to have hired Michael Larson to help them diversify their property portfolio. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions.. FILE - Bill Gates attends a discussion during the 'Munich Security Conference' in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. As more and more land becomes developed, less and less raw land is available, which potentially increases the value as demand remains the same or even increases. Bill Gates' 20,000 acres in Nebraska help make him the top farmland owner in the U.S. Christopher Burbach Jan 24, 2021 Updated May 17, 2022 0 1 of 10 This cropland west of Malmo, Nebraska, is. The Microsoft co-founder faced several claims that he owned a majority of America's farmland earlier this year. Bill Gates wins legal approval to buy huge swath of North Dakota In total, Malone owns roughly 2.2million acres of land and has a net worth of around $9.22billion, earning him the nickname the Cable Cowboy.. Bill Gates Called Out By Farmer For Secretly Buying Up US Farmland: 'I Though the Gateses are major owners of American farmland, the couples holdings only represent a fraction of the 283 million acres of farmland that is owned and rented out by nonfarmers. Like wealth, land ownership is becoming concentrated into fewer and fewer hands, resulting in a greater push for monocultures and more intensive industrial farming techniques to generate greater returns. In addition, the land is audited to meet sustainability standards including soil health and water management. Financial titans like Prudential and Hancock have divisions specifically for investors looking to make money on farmland portfolios. Bill Gates Is America's Largest Private Owner of Farmland - Breitbart In total, Gates owns approximately 242,000 acres of farmland with assets totaling more than $690m. In fact, he reportedly owns more farmland than any other individual in America. Bill Gates is investing big in American farmland | Crosscut He's one of the richest men in the world and the largest individual owner of farmland in the country. What expertise in climate science or agriculture Gates possesses beyond being filthy rich is anyones guess. Small farmers and Indigenous people are more cautious with the use of land. This can be an affordable way to get started with your raw land investments. Why Is Bill Gates Buying Farmland? You'll be Surprised - Land Income Can you imagine having that much property? That means Gates, whose net worth is estimated at some $134 billion. Another 5,500 acres was sold to Generation Land Georgia, a company that shares an address with Miami-based Optimum Agriculture, which bought Generations Farms in 2019. You can email us at contact@askbamland.com. At this valuation, Gates likely paid close to $2 billion for the luxury-hotel business. Gates, in an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit last year, said his investment group was behind the purchases, and suggested it was linked to seed and biofuel development. Land is power, land is wealth, and, more importantly, land is about race and class. Bill Gates acquired six parcels of land in Pembina County. By It also is a shareholder in the plant-based protein companies Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods as well as the farming equipment manufacturer John Deere. Bill Gates' farmland buying spree highlights investment appeal Media billionaire Ted Turner has also invested in 2 million acres of land (much of it rangeland and prairie, rather than cropland) and earned the distinction of being the largest private owner of buffalo herds that roam the 200,000 acres of his private ranch, The Guardian reported. A white man owns more farmland than my entire Native nation! 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We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Today, Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland in 19 states. The biggest chunks of Gates holdings are in Louisiana and Arkansas, where he owns 69,071 acres and 47,927 acres, respectively, the outlets research found. buying an increasing share of the U.S. housing market. And that its going to take big swaths of land, like what Bill Gates has taken, to do that, said Konda Mason, the founder and president of Jubilee Justice and Potlikker Capital, which funds and supports regenerative agriculture projects owned by people of color. Bill Gates has invested in various high-profile commercial properties through his personal investment company, Cascade. And we think it will provide good inflation protection in the long run. That's basically the motivation there. So if now the best farmers can do if you want to stay in farming is rent this land, you're not going to get the benefits that come with land ownership.. A 2018 purchase of 14,500 acres of prime eastern Washington farmland - which is traditional. They add it will take those with large parcels of land, like the Gateses U.S. farmland holdings, to do it. If not for climate, then why is Bill Gates buying so much farmland? Gates' achievement, according to the report, is that he's largest private owner of farmland in the US. Those animals, which are sacred to my people and were nearly hunted to extinction by settlers, are preserved today on nearly 200,000 acres of Turners ranchland within the boundaries of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty territory in the western half of what is now the state of South Dakota, land that was once guaranteed by the US government to be a permanent home for Lakota people. Bill Gates is buying up the majority of American farmland and BlackRock is buying the majority of single family houses but Im supposed to believe the biggest threat to us is Elon Musk buying Twitter? read one representative tweet thats been liked or shared on the platform more than 250,000 times. When pressed during a book discussion on Reddit about why hes gobbling up so much farmland, Gates claimed, It is not connected to climate [change]. The decision, he said, came from his investment group. Cascade Investment, the firm making these acquisitions, is controlled by Gates. In other words, when the economy is struggling, the value of farmland generally doesnt depreciate. Bill Gates currently owns over 268,000 acres of American farmland spread out over 19 states. You may have heard that Bill Gates owns a lot of land, but you may not know how much. It makes no sense.. Bill and Melinda Gates' divorce puts massive farmland holdings in focus With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. Bill Gates now owns more farmland than anyone else in the United States, as the tech tycoon has quietly purchased 242,000 acres of farmland in several states across the country. Bill Gates owns a lot of American farmland, but not the majority By PHILIP MARCELO May 2, 2022 CLAIM: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates owns the majority of America's farmland and the investment firm BlackRock holds the majority of single family houses in the country. They own the soil where the potatoes in McDonalds french fries grow, the carrots from the worlds largest producer and the onions that Americans saut every night for dinner. Published: 18:36 ET, Dec 8 2022 Updated: 10:03 ET, Dec 9 2022 A MAP has revealed which billionaire owns the largest amount of land in the US - you'll be shocked to know that it isn't Bill Gates. 23:06 GMT 15 Jan 2021 But Zehren of Cascade noted that the firm has been working in Florida and elsewhere to promote ecologically conscious agriculture and that it plans to continue to evaluate its farmland portfolio to improve its overall sustainability. Weve never been one of the big institutional buyers of single family homes, BlackRock said in response to one tweet. Its a hedging strategy, said Daniel Bigelow, a professor of agricultural economics at Montana State University, who previously served as a USDA research economist. Many people wonder why Bill Gates would make these moves with his investment portfolio. Weve been trained by experience, land acquisition courses, and hundreds of hours meeting with county assessors and clerks, zoning officials, realtors, and land investors. As more and more land becomes developed, less and less raw land is available, which potentially increases the value as demand remains the same or even increases. These states include: Arizona - 25,750 acres; Arkansas - 47,927 acres NBC News also found that another 6,500 acres in north Florida are owned by yet another company, Suwannee River Terra, which was also started with an address in Kirkland and an email address from the Bill and Melinda Gates Investment Firm, which is now registered to the current chief counsel of Oak River Farms with a mailing address in Kansas, according to property records. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'askbamland_com-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_9',109,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-askbamland_com-large-mobile-banner-2-0'); Raw land can be a great way to generate passive income or even spur large profits in the long term (or even short term if you know what you are doing). But those working on projects with both investors and farmers to create ecologically sustainable farming methods and support diverse and disadvantaged farming communities say rethinking agriculture and working to avert a climate crisis go hand in hand. . So what is this guy planning? You can also fill out the contact form below if you are interested in buying or selling land. Social media users are falsely claiming that Gates owns the majority of U.S. farmland. They accounted for almost 1% of the agricultural land in the United States. Bill Gates Is The Largest Owner Of Farmland In The US - Nation When Bill Gates, or whatever other investment arm owns the land, a farmer still needs to farm it. He added: 'In addition, the states oldest winery, Chateau Ste. Adding to the confusion, Blackstone was once a major investor in BlackRock, but sold off its stake in the 1990s. All that farming has led to large water withdrawals from Florida's aquifer system and requires fertilizer, which leaches through the ground into waterways, emptying nitrogen that has led to destructive algae blooms and severe loss of fish and marsh habitats. North Dakotans are outraged as Bill Gates, the largest private farmland He owns significantly more farmland than Minnesota's Offutt family and California's Resnick family, which each own 190,000 acres and rank second equal on the list. The Gates family currently [] BlackRock is sometimes confused w/ Blackstone, which owned Invitation Homes. Gates and his wife own 269,000 acres of farmland. It also allows you to keep a portion of the land for personal use so you do not have to give up your weekend home or relaxation property. The Microsoft co-founder is considered the largest private owner of farmland in the country with some 269,000 acres across dozens of states, according to last years edition of the Land Report 100, an annual survey of the nations largest landowners. But that could soon change. Bill Gates, one of the most powerful billionaires in the world and co-founder of tech giant Microsoft, and wife Melinda are ending their 27-year marriage, the two tweeted in unison on Monday. The area off Interstate 10, called Belmont, has space for 80,000 homes as well as more than 4,000 acres for schools, offices, and stores; and 3,400 acres of open space. Farmland in those parts is valuable, commanding prices between $10,000 and $15,000 per acre, far beyond the state average of about $2,000. Agriculture is also a key focus area for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the massive charity run by Gates and his wife. The attraction that people have to investing in farmland is that it tends to be countercyclical to the stock market. And not all the renters are local. Additionally, through his personal investment firm, Cascade, Bill Gates owns approximately half of the Four Season Holdings' hotel chain. You may also be interested in why a billionaire wants land. Bill Gates is now America's biggest farmer - The Telegraph The trend worries young farmers who cannot compete with the likes of Bill Gates when buying land, according to Holly Rippon-Butler, a farmer in upstate New York and the land campaigns director at the National Young Farmers Coalition. The tech mogul, who is the fourth richest person in the world with a net worth of $121billion, according to Forbes, has quietly built up a massive agriculture portfolio. Now you have a foundation where the mission on one side is to save the world and to do all these wonderful things surrounding climate, and on the other side theyre investing in the exact same things that are causing the harm that the mission side is trying to protect, Mason said. If you own a good amount of land, then you have the possibility of subdividing it into multiple lots that can generate separate income streams. Bill Gates is the biggest private owner of farmland in - The Guardian Bill Gates is betting big on US farmland - should you? Who Owns More Land: Bill Gates, McDonald's or The Catholic Church? Bill Gates is America's biggest owner of private farmland, and his The land that Bill Gates owns is used to grow soybeans, corn, cotton, and rice over 70,000 acres in northern Louisiana. He is the author of the book Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance (Verso, 2019), In a pandemic, billionaires are richer than ever. Raw land is not developed. This is part of APs effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Members of the Stanley family now work for Generations. Nick Estes is a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. The billionaire Microsoft co-founder has become the largest owner of farmland in the United States by quietly buying up massive plots across the county, a new report says. Bill Gates is in the money flow business, and farmland, as well as other land, can generate a lot of money. And while Bill Gates frets about eating cheeseburgers in his book for the amount of greenhouse gases the meat industry produces largely for the consumption of rich countries his massive carbon footprint has little to do with his personal diet and is not forgivable by simply buying more land to sequester more carbon. With the Washington state acreage and other additions to his portfolio, The Land Report estimates that Gates now owns at least 242,000 acres of American farmland. Kroenke is married to Ann Walkton Kroenke, an heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune.