I mean, it is unlikely that one of the richest people in the world would invest in something that wasnt a good investment, right? CNN founder Ted Turner owns 2 million acres of land largely in New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Georgia. A 6,300-acre farm owned by Bill Gates in Madison County could become the site of one of the nation's largest solar farms. There is a certain irony, of course, about Gates, 65, becoming the USA's biggest private owner of farmland, which American publication the Land Report recently declared him to be. Bill Gates' $13.5 million investment in 2,100 sprawling acres of North Dakota land has raised questions as the purchase coincided with a controversial Chinese company buying 370 acres of. A hint at Gates huge farm holdings emerged in a 2014 Wall Street Journal profile of Michael Larson, the money manager who serves as Cascades chief investment officer. His 242,000 acres of farmland stretch across 18 states from Washington to Florida,. Investors bought a record 18.4% of the homes purchased in the fourth quarter of 2021 three-quarters of which were single-family homes. Listen to article. But Gates, known for his philanthropic work solving some of the worlds most pressing public health and climate problems, has suggested that he does not treat his American farmland investments as part of his broader plans to save the planet. While the Gates own a lot of farmland, nonfarmers own 283 million acres of farmland throughout the U.S. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'askbamland_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_3',103,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-askbamland_com-medrectangle-4-0'); This article will go into detail about how much land Bill Gates owns and why he owns so much. 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. But why do a handful of people own so much land? (Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times via AP file), The buildings of the 100 Circles Farm are at the center of this satellite image. According to O'Keefe, Gates isn't the only one making moves on the farmland market, especially as farm real estate values nationwide increased 7% from 2020 to $3,390 per acre. But farmer advocates say the Gateses large-scale farm purchases dont make room for smaller farmers to break into the market. Can You Build A Wedding Venue On Residential Land? , said his investment group was behind the purchases, and suggested it was linked to seed and biofuel development. The 14,000 acres in Washington is used for potatoes and in Florida the land is used for carrots. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'askbamland_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_7',108,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-askbamland_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0'); While the land that Bill Gates owns is already developed for farming and likely costs a ton of money, land can also be quite affordable. They bought and later sold an additional 6,000 acres in Georgia, NBC News found. BlackRock is sometimes confused w/ Blackstone, which owned Invitation Homes. Additionally, through his personal investment firm, Cascade, Bill Gates owns approximately half of the Four Season Holdings' hotel chain. Since then, weve sold to dozens of people from ATV weekend warriors to camping enthusiasts to retired truck drivers. One of the largest plots of land owned by a subsidiary of the Gateses investment arm in Louisiana, Angelina Plantation, was previously owned by former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers, who died last year, a month after being released from prison. If the land is owned by the Cascade Investment Group or Cottonwood Ag Management it is likely that Bill Gates may be one of your neighbors. The 13,573-square-foot home has six bedrooms, 11 bedrooms and more luxury features than you can count. That title goes to John Malone, the former CEO of Tele-Communications Inc, which was purchased by AT&T Inc in 1999 for more than $50billion. This can be an affordable way to get started with your raw land investments. The 14,000 acres in Washington is used for potatoes and in Florida the land is used for carrots. That makes Invitation Homes the largest operator of single-family rental homes in the country, but still represents a tiny fraction of all such homes. Adding to the confusion, Blackstone was once a major investor in BlackRock, but sold off its stake in the 1990s. For Indigenous caretakers, land use isnt premised on a return of investments; its about maintaining the land for the next generation, meeting the needs of the present, and a respect for the diversity of life. From mortgage info and housing trends to updates on which celebritys bathroom is equipped with a Vitamin-C infused shower, Housecall covers the entire moving and shaking gamut of the industry decision to end their marriage after 27 years, How to Know Youve Found the Home of Your Dreams, 3 Reasons to Hire Pest Control Services After Moving Into Your Home, 4 Additions For Your New Bathroom Remodel, Top Kitchen Design Trends to Consider for Your Renovation, Inside Jeff Bezos Multi-Billion Dollar Real Estate Portfolio, Reasons to Take Care of a Water Leak in Your Home as Soon as Possible, A Quick Guide to Stopping Ceiling Leaks in Your Home, 10 Tips for Taking Care of Wood Furniture, 5 Important Facts About Your Rain Gutter System, 5 Strategies for Making Moving House as Smooth as Possible, Lessons Every Homeowner Can Learn This Winter to Prepare for the Next, How to Spot Foundation Issues in an Old Home. APS ASSESSMENT: False. Farmland can be an investment in several ways. Bill Gates uses farmland as investment vehicle, owning 269,000 acres of land. Ownership of Angelina Plantation Farms, which sits among three wildlife areas in Monterey with a view of Bayou Cocodrie, and other property has been a . Bill Gates now owns the most farmland of anyone in the United States, according to a recent report from The Land Report . One of those farms, Stanley Farms, specialized in Vidalia onions, and another, Coggins Farms, focused on growing carrots. The land we all live on should not be the sole property of a few. That kind of hard work isnt what made him rich. 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. 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. The foundation aims to support country-led inclusive agricultural transformation across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, according to its website. Xanadu 2.0 in Medina, Washington: Estimated $140-170 Million, Source: Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times. Learn more about fact-checking at AP. In May, Bill Gates also transferred about $850 million in shares of the agricultural machinery company John Deere to his wife after the two shared publicly their plans to divorce. The private residential area is home to numerous A-list celebrity couples including Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. Both companies were founded in 2012 with the same address as Cascade Investments in Kirkland, which later changed its mailing address to a Louisiana post office box assigned to Oak River Farms, another subsidiary of Cascade. 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. Bill Gates owns more private farmland in the US than anyone else, an analysis by The Land Report found.His 242,000 acres of farmland stretch across 18 states Bill Gates owns farmland in 18 states . Bill and Melinda Gates, who recently announced theyre getting divorced and are dividing their assets, are deeply invested in American agriculture. It makes no sense.. Last year, Cascade Investment made a second major investment in Arizona by acquiring more than 2,800 acres known as Spurlock Ranch in Buckeye for $25 million, that could be built out to include 8,500 homes. Bill and Melindas main residenceand by far their most impressive homeis a massive compound in Medina, Washington nicknamed 'Xanadu 2.0' in a reference to, Undisclosed Sale Price (Listed for $8.9 Million). It also offers proven return rates. On Friday, a showdown between two of the largest agricultural landowners in the United Statesthe Church of Latter-Day Saints and Bill Gates ' wealth management firmcame . Gates is now America's largest private farmland owner, with hundreds of thousands of acres spanning across 19 U.S. states, according to the Land Report. 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. Farmer Bill. A 2018 purchase of 14,500 acres of prime eastern Washington farmland - which is traditional. Bill and Melinda bought this massive mansion in the Coachella Valley for $12.5 million in 1999. Social media users are falsely claiming that Gates owns the majority of U.S. farmland. 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. Bill Gates, the fourth richest person in the world, currently owns 242,000 acres of farmland, making him the top private farmland owner in America, according to Forbes. You can also look at local resources in your area to see where land is being bought or sold. Bill Gates is the largest private owner of American farmland, which is why so many people are wondering what he will use it for. The farmland real estate investment trust (REIT) Farmland Partners, which owns 156,500 acres in 16 US states, has seen its traded value more than double since November and is trading near an. Seems like there could be a lot to benefit more of their charities by selling some of this off. The outlet reported this week that Gates, 65, owns 268,984 acres of. This means that there is not much to maintain on it unless you want to add your own buildings or other property. In 2010 the Gates Foundation Trust invested about $23 million in Monsanto, the genetically modified seed and chemical company, though it sold its shares the next year following outcry from environmental groups. They accounted for almost 1% of the agricultural land in the United States. Reed family: Land area: 1.7 million acres. Renewable energy company Savion has an option to buy the property for what is being called Oak Run Solar Project, according to Madison County property records. The report on US Land Ownership ("Land Ownership Report" / 1-21-22) indicates that Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and holder of 45% of its shares, is the main owner of North American land, owner of an area of more than 250,000 acres (101,171.4 hectares) deployed throughout the immense US territory, the fourth in the world in order of . The comments below have not been moderated, By Gates and his wife own 269,000 acres of farmland. 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. According to 2021 article from the Land Report, a magazine about land ownership, Gates owns approximately 242,000 . than 85 million single-family homes in the country, and only around 15 million of those are rentals, Of those rentals, less than a third are owned by non-individual investors, according to. But a Gates spokesperson said in a statement on Friday that the claim that hes bought the majority of the nations farmland is false, pointing to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report from February that showed there were more than 895 million total acres of farmland in the country last year. This is where a country sells land when the owner becomes delinquent on their property taxes. A survey of the Gateses farmland holdings shows that a broad range of the vegetables that Americans eat can be traced back to his land and that some of this land has also been owned by other billionaires. The opportunities are virtually endless. 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,. 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. 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). 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. In emails, BlackRock spokesman Christopher Beattie told The Associated Press that the firm. MINOT, N.D. North Dakotans like to pride themselves on being pro-property rights. The largest. Bill Gates may no longer be the worlds richest man, but he can claim a new title: Americas farmland king. | Photo by Wikimedia Commons . Farmland offers a strategy that is completely separated from his other wealth and investments. Bill Gates top private farmland owner in US. This could give you a place to relax or to even build a small vacation home. Much of Turner's land is used as grazing land for over 50,000 head of buffalo . Bill and Melinda have purchased numerous properties in Wellington, Florida, over the years. While private companies and corporations are increasing . 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. Agriculture is also a key focus area for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the massive charity run by Gates and his wife. Where Does Bill Gates Own Farmland in the US. It can be sold as a property (or multiple properties), it can be used to produce things that people buy, or it can be rented out, like much of the farmland in the United States. The billionaire tech mogul and philanthropist has quietly amassed nearly 270,000 acres of farmland across the country, but thats still a relatively small slice of the nations nearly 900 million total farm acres. 4. The attraction that people have to investing in farmland is that it tends to be countercyclical to the stock market. He owns 2m acres and has the worlds largest privately owned buffalo herd. The Microsoft co-founder and his former wife, Melinda, are the top farmland owners in. Not only is it usable by you, but land can be used for so many different things. Michelle, has two of its largest vineyards in that AVA: Canoe Ridge Vineyard and Columbia Crest Vineyard. The title for largest landholdings overall goes to US businessman John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media, who owns 2.2million acres. The billionaire recently came under severe criticism from a fourth-generation farmer in South Georgia for his farmland ownership in the U.S. Will Harris, who owns a 152-year-old family farm named. You may also be interested in why a billionaire wants land.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'askbamland_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_2',102,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-askbamland_com-medrectangle-3-0'); Bill Gates is one of the largest farmland owners in the United States. ', In 2008, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $306 million in grants designed to boost the yields and incomes of millions of small farmers in Africa as well as 'other parts of the developing world so they can lift themselves and their families out of hunger and poverty.'. Bill Gates' purchase of a large patch of land in North Dakota has sparked fury and conspiracy theories on social media after the Microsoft billionaire secured legal approval to purchase the. Public records suggest Cascade Investments has bought its farmland through a web of at least 22 limited liability shell companies across the country. Gates achievement, according to the report, is that hes largest private owner of farmland in the US. FILE - Bill Gates attends a discussion during the 'Munich Security Conference' in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. Well, youd think, if you're looking for somebody with enough capital to try that, he would go first. Bill Gates was quietly becoming the biggest private owner of farmland in the United States. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions.. Here is an overview of all of the property the couple owned together at the time of their divorce: Bill and Melinda dont publicly discuss this topic often, but they are the top owners of farmland in the U.S. With some 242,000 acres, the estimated value of their farmland is in the billions. Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, has been revealed as the biggest private owner of farmland in the US, after buying up 242,000 acres in 18 states. While those companies dont explicitly name Cascade Investments as the owner in their public records, they do share the address of Cascade in Kirkland, Washington, or the address of a Cascade subsidiary, list the names of Cascade employees who registered the companies and sometimes even email addresses from the Bill and Melinda Gates Investment Group. The conservation of lands is important, he said. The tech mogul, who is the. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, BillGatesbuys nearly $1B Heineken stake despite not being a big beer drinker, Bill Gates daughter living in $51M NYC home as she welcomes first baby, Elites want to use AI to censor political opponents, Bill Gates claims his private jet habit not part of the climate problem. He also purchased the 800-acre Bridlewood Farms in Florida. In terms of agriculture and his practices Bill Gates, Microsoft billionaire, may be more than . One per cent of the worlds farms control 70% of the worlds farmlands, one report found. The billionaire media mogul Ted Turner epitomizes such disparities. The option expires Oct. 31, 2024. Here is the . But even with his big new agricultural holdings, Gates still doesn't rank in the Top 100 of private landowners overall in the U.S. - when considering owners of land of all types, not just agricultural. Gates is not the only billionaire on The Land Report 's list of top private farmland owners. THE FACTS: As Elon Musks bid to purchase Twitter has grabbed headlines in recent days, some prominent voices have taken to social media to claim that some other significant acquisitions by deep-pocketed individuals and corporations have largely flown under the radar. Properties up for grabs include a $123million mansion with a trampoline room and a $43million oceanfront mansion with a ten-person jacuzzi. His largest holding is in Louisiana (69,071 acres), followed by Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Arizona (25,750 acres). In six years that number has more than doubled. 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. He also reportedly owns about 16,000 acres in his home state of Washington, including a 14,500-acre tract in the Horse Heaven Hills region that was purchased for nearly $171 million. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. In 2018 Gates reportedly bought about 16,000 acres in his home state of Washington, including a 14,500-acre tract in the Horse Heaven Hills region that was purchased for nearly $171 million from an insurance company that had paid $75million for it in 2010. the latest American Housing Survey by the Census Bureau. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'askbamland_com-leader-1','ezslot_8',107,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-askbamland_com-leader-1-0'); Even if you buy the land with the purpose of selling it at a later time when the area undergoes more development, you can still use the land in the meantime. In enrolling in Leading Harvest, Cascade has implemented new initiatives on its farmland holdings ranging from adding additional pollinator habitat in Nebraska to planting wildlife-friendly trees on dry pivot corners in Florida to hosting grain bin safety rescue training for the local community in Louisiana to converting numerous diesel power units to electric to reduce carbon output, to name a few, Zheren said. In 1994 Bill and Melinda Gates are said to have hired Michael Larson to help them diversify their property portfolio. While Gates owns nearly 270,000 acres of farmland across the US, he isnt the largest landowner in the country. The relationship to land who owns it, who works it, and who cares for it reflects obscene levels of inequality and legacies of colonialism and white supremacy., ill Gates has never been a farmer. Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of Microsoft, has been revealed as the biggest private owner of farmland in the US, after buying up 242,000 acres in 18 states. There are also ways to generate passive income on the land without selling it because you can lease the land or sell the mineral rights, among other methods. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. One of the Gates favorite vacation homes is in the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana. One of the Gates' favorite vacation homes is in the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana. It can be used for residential development, commercial projects, industrial zoning, public or semi-public use, agriculture, or right of way (a way for others to access a different piece of land or portion of the land).