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. Gates shares ownership with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talalthe two purchased the chain in 2007 for $3.8 billion. Malone made his fortune as a media tycoon, building the company Tele-Communications, Inc, or TCI, and acting as its CEO before selling it to AT&T for $50 billion in 1999. These billionaires have nothing to offer us in terms of saving the planet unless its our land back. This means that you can find good deals that may be just the thing you are looking for. They bought and later sold an additional 6,000 acres in Georgia, NBC News found. They accounted for almost 1% of the agricultural land in the United States. This will always be true, no matter where the land is. Bill Gates owns more land than all of the entire city of New Why Bill Gates Is Buying Up U.S. 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. 4. That could spell an opportunity for young farmers hoping to get their start, but for savvy investors scrambling for more places to put their money, it also represents an opportunity. Agriculture is also a key focus area for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the massive charity run by Gates and his wife. The principal danger of private farmland owners like Bill Gates is not their professed support of sustainable agriculture often found in philanthropic work its the monopolistic role they play in determining our food systems and land use patterns. The conservation of lands is important, he said. The extensive tax avoidance by these titans of industry will always far exceed their supposed charitable donations to the public. Our era is dominated by the ultra-rich, the climate crisis and a burgeoning green capitalism. Wonderful Company cofounders Stewart and Lynda Resnick (net worth: $7.1 billion) ranked number three . A Grimmway Farms employee moves a water pipe at one of their carrot farms in the Antelope Valley near Lancaster, Calif., in 2004. Adjusted for inflation, average farm real estate values have generally risen since 1993, growing from less than $1,500 an acre in the mid-90s to over $3,000 an acre in 2020, according to the USDA. At this valuation, Gates likely paid close to $2 billion for the luxury-hotel business. Some of that land, including nearly 300 acres, was sold in 2019 to the California-based Grimmway Farms, the worlds largest carrot producer. The land that Gates owns is located in several states and consists primarily of commercial farmland. Land holds ample opportunities for growth and development, yet you may find that there is more land than there is competition. Recently, an article in Land Report stated that Bill Gates owns more American farmland than anyone else. These land holdings are separate from their previous investments in companies that support large-scale farming like Monsanto and the tractor manufacturer John Deere. 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. Arable land is not just profitable. 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 currently owns over 268,000 acres of American farmland spread out over 19 states. 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. Social media users are falsely claiming that Gates owns the majority of U.S. farmland. Quarterman guessed that may be because Bill Gates isnt the one doing the farming. ', Cascade did not elaborate on the agricultural land purchases other than to say that the company is 'very supportive of sustainable farming.'. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Ukrainian soldier takes out five tanks with Javelin missiles, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Hershey's Canada releases HER for SHE bars featuring a trans activist, Moment teenager crashes into back of lorry after 100mph police race. Since 2017 he reportedly holds a significant stake in 24,800 acres of land on the west side of Phoenix. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'askbamland_com-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_5',106,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-askbamland_com-large-leaderboard-2-0'); While farmland, and land in general, will undergo economic factors and changes to demand, it is very likely to increase in value as the years roll by. 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 in the United States, and also the world. In every state where the Gateses own land, a tangled web of locally registered limited liability companies follow. Through our professional experience in land acquisition, we have found that people buy and sell land for many different reasons and have learned that it can be an investment for profit, vacation, or any opportunity that suits your needs and desires. Weve been trained by experience, land acquisition courses, and hundreds of hours meeting with county assessors and clerks, zoning officials, realtors, and land investors. Bill and Melinda have diversified their portfolioworth more than $130 billionfor years, and one of their favorite investments is real estate. He also owns three hotels in Dublin, Ireland, and a fourth in Limerick. Raw land is not developed. Bill Gates: America's Top Farmland Owner | The Land Report. (Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times via AP file), The buildings of the 100 Circles Farm are at the center of this satellite image. 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. That is a big chunk of land. But that could soon change. The acquisition, however . 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. The United States is defined by the excesses of its ruling class. More surprising, however, was the fact that Bill and Melinda Gates own more private farmland . 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. His largest holding is in Louisiana (69,071 acres), followed by Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Arizona (25,750 acres). That crown belongs to Liberty Media chairman John Malone, who has 2.2 million acres, according to The Land Report. There are also growing trends revolving around the purchase of low acreage farmland and noncommercial farming. Learn more about fact-checking at AP. The private residential area is home to numerous A-list celebrity couples including Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. Gates achievement, according to the report, is that hes largest private owner of farmland in the US. That was a virus I got from Ted Turner.. Since then, weve sold to dozens of people from ATV weekend warriors to camping enthusiasts to retired truck drivers. It is unclear why Gates, better known as a self-confessed computing 'nerd', has invested in farmland so heavily, and details of the land are scarce,as revealed in The Land Report. Dailymail.com Reporter, Meet John Malone of Liberty Global the Darth Vader of Wall Street and the man who wants a slice of Formula One, Bill Gates is accused of hypocrisy after joining bidding war to buy the world's largest private jet operator - one month before he releases his book preaching about climate change, Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Mom who lost both sons to fentanyl blasts laughing Biden, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' Is this simply a diversification of Gates' massive tech investment portfolio? You can read more about us, here. Farmland can be an investment in several ways. Investors bought a record 18.4% of the homes purchased in the fourth quarter of 2021 three-quarters of which were single-family homes, according to real estate firm RedFin. "The agriculture sector is important. This can potentially earn you tons of money. In north Louisiana, the Gateses investment firm owns about 70,000 acres of land through at least three other shell companies. 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. Although the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is not directly connected with Cascade or its investments, it also has a farmland initiative: Gates Ag One, established in the Greater St. Louis area, with a mission to help 'smallholder farmers adapt to climate change and make food production in low- and middle-income countries more productive, resilient, and sustainable. , said his investment group was behind the purchases, and suggested it was linked to seed and biofuel development. John Malone is the largest private landowner in the United States. While land is a limited resource, there is still less competition for raw land than there is with residential and commercial real estate. Michelle, has two of its largest vineyards in that AVA: Canoe Ridge Vineyard and Columbia Crest Vineyard. Mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California: $18 Million. 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. Gates' purchase averaged $12,000 per acre. 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. The state's Republican Attorney General Drew Wrigley had inquired into the land sale, and on Wednesday issued a letter saying the transaction complied with an archaic anti-corporate [] In Georgia and Florida, NBC News independently confirmed through research of property records that the Gateses investment firm owns more than 7,000 acres through two limited liability companies, Lakeland Sands and Lakeland Sands Florida, LLC. Through his subsidiary Mt. And the firm said its very supportive of sustainable farming. There are more than 85 million single-family homes in the country, and only around 15 million of those are rentals, according to the latest American Housing Survey by the Census Bureau. Bill Gates now owns almost 242,000 acres of the continguous USA. CNN founder Ted Turner owns 2 million acres of land largely in New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Georgia. Cascade Investments declined to comment on its interest in acquiring so much American farmland, but a spokesperson for the firm, Charles V. Zehren said it is very supportive of sustainable farming. He pointed out that in 2020, the acreage that Bill Gates firm owns was all enrolled in a sustainability program. 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. According to the Land Report 100 Research Team, that figure is currently more than twice that amount, which means Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, has an alter ego: Farmer Bill, the guy who owns more farmland than anyone else in America. 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. Nick Estes is a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. When Bill Gates, or whatever other investment arm owns the land, a farmer still needs to farm it. In Washington, the Gateses own more than 14,000 acres of farmland that includes potato fields so massive that they are visible from space and some of which are processed into french fries for McDonalds. The Gates Foundation said in a statement that its agriculture efforts do not extend to farming in the U.S. He's one of the richest men in the world and the largest individual owner of farmland in the country. According to landreport.com, the Gates family has a total of 242,000 in farmland acreage in the United States. The Microsoft co-founder faced several claims that he owned a majority of America's farmland earlier this year. 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. - Bill and Melinda Gates are taking on the new title of the biggest farmland owners in the United States, with a good chunk of that ownership being in Arkansas. But theyre far better known for their work in tech and in trying to save the climate. 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. In January 2021, Bill Gates became the largest owner of farmland in the United States. Members of the Stanley family now work for Generations. The 14,000 acres in Washington is used for potatoes and in Florida the land is used for carrots. . Bill Gates had managed to purchase nearly 269,000 acres of land in more than 12 states in the US. Bill and Melinda bought this massive mansion in the Coachella Valley for $12.5 million in 1999. Where Does Bill Gates Own Farmland in the US. The billionaire couple, in less than a decade, have accumulated more than 269,000 acres of farmland across 18 states, more than the entire acreage of New York City. Bill Gates is best known for revolutionizing personal computing, but lately he's gotten back to the land. 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. Thats why lands still managed by Indigenous peoples worldwide protect and sustain 80% of the worlds biodiversity, practices anathema to industrial agriculture. This site also participates in other affiliate programs including but not limited to ShareASale, CJ, and ClickBank, and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. Can you imagine having that much property? It makes no sense.. Its a hedging strategy, said Daniel Bigelow, a professor of agricultural economics at Montana State University, who previously served as a USDA research economist. The outlet reported this week that Gates, 65, owns 268,984 acres of. Right? The billionaire says he purchased the land because they are not making it anymore.. Gates has been buying land like its going out of style. By 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. Land can produce food, fuel, and manufacturing materials as well as provide environmental services, residential spaces, and more. I mean, it is unlikely that one of the richest people in the world would invest in something that wasnt a good investment, right? There is only a certain amount of land available on earth. Last year, Bill and Melinda purchased a sprawling beachfront 6-bedroom, 4-bath home in Del Mar, Californiaoutside of San Diegofor $43 million. 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. 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. Why should striking rail and postal workers get a big pay rise while our pay packets remain stagnant or worse? (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File ), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. 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. Bill Gates is now the largest private landowner in the country. 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. BILL Gates' $80billion property empire now hangs in the balance after he and his wife of 27 years announced they are divorcing. When Quarterman first heard about Gates firm buying land in the area, he began digging through local property records, linking addresses and business records from registered owners to Kirkland-based companies, until he was able to piece together that the companies buying multiple tracts of land in the Suwannee River Basin were all a shell of a shell of a shell company investing for Bill Gates. NBC News independently confirmed that there were, in fact, shell companies tracing back to Gates firm that purchased 6,021 acres across four counties in Georgia. And not all the renters are local. So what is this guy planning? 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. When fully developed the area could be home to 200,000 residents and be similar in size to the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, The Land Report said. 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He said that this is where large tracts of rich farmland is used to raise livestock and grow many of the vegetables that end up in grocery aisles up and down the East Coast. 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. Farmland CNBC 2.94M subscribers Subscribe 47K 4.5M views 1 year ago #CNBC Bill Gates made. While Gates is Americas biggest farmland owner, hes far from being the nations largest landowner in general. About 40 percent of farmland is owned by seniors 65 or older, according to 2014 estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, meaning more farmland is expected to come on the market soon. of the richest people in the country, owns less than one percent of the nations total farmland. Bill and Melinda Gates, who recently announced theyre getting divorced and are dividing their assets, are deeply invested in American agriculture. Thats where the Gateses began buying land in 2013 through two limited liability corporations registered to an address in Kirkland by Derek Yurosek, then head of agriculture operations for Cascade. 5. The Microsoft co-founder faced several claims that he owned a majority of Americas farmland earlier this year. 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. The option expires Oct. 31, 2024. AP'S ASSESSMENT: False. 4 Our inventory spans mostly in the western United States. He owns 242,000 acres, which is equivalent to the area of Fannin County GA. If you are unsure where to start, you can also check country tax sales. Through our professional experience in land acquisition, we have found that people buy and sell land for many different reasons and have learned that it can be an investment for profit, vacation, or any opportunity that suits your needs and desires. In Nebraska where he owns 20,000 acres, it is used for soybeans. Land holds ample opportunities for growth and development, yet you may find that there is more land than there is competition. Now Bill Gates appears to have acquired a slice of their tiny city, and locals near. They add it will take those with large parcels of land, like the Gateses U.S. farmland holdings, to do it. Farmland offers a strategy that is completely separated from his other wealth and investments. As more and more land gets developed, if you own land that is in the path of the plan, you could have buyers offering you big money to take hold of the property. 2,167 acres. In terms of agriculture and his practices Bill Gates, Microsoft billionaire, may be more than . Bill Gates has secured legal approval for the controversial purchase of thousands of acres of prime North Dakota farmland, after the deal drew fury from the state's residents. If youre looking at what this means for farmers on the ground looking to access land, theres significant competition from nonfarmers, and that really affects young farmers because it means that the price that theyre trying to compete with on the marketplace is driven and determined by people who are not dependent on a farming income, Rippon-Butler said. Bill Gates may no longer be the world's richest man, but he can claim a new title: America's farmland king. 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. Today, Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland in 19 states. 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. Bill Gates has secured legal approval for his North Dakota farmland purchase But the deal drew scrutiny under a 1932 anti-corporate farm ownership law Now state AG says the deal is legal, because . However, his largest land holdings are in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres), Nebraska (20,588 acres . | Chuck Collins, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Land is power, land is wealth, and, more importantly, land is about race and class. 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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. Can You Build A Wedding Venue On Residential Land? The opportunities are virtually endless. , an annual survey of the nations largest landowners. In addition, he owns 25,750 acres of transitional land and 1,234 acres of recreational land for total land holdings of 268,984 acres. 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. (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. These purchases are also a direct result of their daughters equestrian career hopes because of Wellingtons close proximity to the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center. 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. And we think it will provide good inflation protection in the long run. That means Gates, whose net worth is estimated at some $134 billion. 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 Citizen Kane. (Google Maps), Image: The building housing the offices of Cascade Investment in Kirkland, Wash., on May 22, 2021. 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. 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. Bill and Melinda Gates also cracked the Land Report's Top 100 Landowners for the first time coming in at number 49. In six years that number has more than doubled. 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. A few years ago, Bill Gates has announced plans to build a smart city outside of Buckeye in Arizona. The billionaire Microsoft co-founder has become the largest owner of farmland in the. 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. His firms largest farmland acquisition happened in 2017, when it acquired 61 farming properties from a Canadian investment firm to the tune of $500m. 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. BlackRock also suggested it was being confused for the similarly-named investment management firm Blackstone, which until recently owned Invitation Homes. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates finally revealed the reasons behind his massive purchase of farmland: seed science and biofuel development. The Microsoft co-founder and his former wife, Melinda, are the top farmland owners in. Listen to article. 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.