In his Reddit AMA last year, one user said, "What do you plan to do with all the farmland you have purchased? Bill Gates is one of the richest men in the world, but his wealth pales in comparison to that of other billionaires. Gates . (Through a spokesperson, the company declined to comment for this article.). But the details are murky, and there is no evidence that the billionaires farmland-buying spree is driven by anything more than a desire to have a well-diversified portfolio. Mr. While the Gates' own a lot of farmland, nonfarmers own 283 million acres of farmland throughout the U.S. Today, the Belmont tract remains mostly empty desert. 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. She has also joined a local farmers cooperative, arranged by AGRA, which hosted demonstrations of the new techniques. BlackRock is sometimes confused w/ Blackstone, which owned Invitation Homes. Through Sierra Pacific, the family owns some 2 million acres in California and Washington. The risk is large. Newsweek called him a sustainable agriculture champion., Those stories dovetailed with earlier reports about Gates large land acquisitions in Arizona. 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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. He has very competent investment managers.. In total Mr Gates and his wife Melinda own 269,000 acres of land across 19 states, including 69,071 acres in Louisiana and 47,927 acres in Arkansas. Nous, Yahoo, faisons partie de la famille de marques Yahoo. 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. The financial crisis later in that same decade prompted an explosion of investments into farmland when monetary safe havens became scarce. Groups of 15 to 25 smallholders are also being encouraged to form collectives. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File ), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. buying an increasing share of the U.S. housing market. Bill Gates and Neo-Feudalism: A Closer Look at Farmer Bill. . 5. He owns a huge . According to 2021 article from the Land Report, a magazine about land ownership, Gates owns approximately 242,000 . In January, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it would create a nonprofit entity called Gates Ag One that will speed up efforts to provide smallholder farmers in developing countries with access to the affordable tools and innovations they need to sustainably improve crop productivity and adapt to the effects of climate change.. His environmental bent also extends to farming. Microsoft founder and billionaire turned philanthropist Bill Gates recently laid to rest the long-time conspiracy theory that he owns some 80% of all U.S. farmland in his 11th appearance in an . Bill Gates is best-known for cofounding Microsoft, but he's also a major US landowner, having bought 275,000 acres of farmland. Farms also have a role in fighting climate change. North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring told KFYR that public reaction to the purchase has been largely negative. We hope by 2015 to have reached 20 million smallholders, says Bashir Jama of AGRA, who runs the organisations soil health programme. AGRA has also appointed 2800 inspectors to monitor soil health and advise farmers on how much fertiliser they need. I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs. Who knows. AGRAs aim, helping small farmers become professional, is backed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Impossible Foods had seen a huge surge in demandfor its Impossible Burger product that year. For their part, governments must improve water storage and create drought-resistant crops. Were connecting [smallholders] to the entire business chain, says Jama. The Land Report magazine reported in January that Bill and Melinda Gates have amassed the largest portfolio of private farmland in the U.S. A $171 million purchase of 14,500 acres of prime eastern Washington farmland in 2018 gave the power couple an estimated 242,000 acres of farmland, which is nearly the size of Hong Kong. For investors who know what theyre doing, agricultural land offers financial stability in uncertain times. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops delivered daily to your inbox. 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. Last year, Gates vowed to give away "virtually all" of his fortune to the philanthropic foundation he runs with French Gates. This means biosludge from human waste will be spread on farms to grow more GMOs all to save the planet.. 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 ofthe Land Report 100, an annual survey of the nations largest landowners. He now owns more farmland than my entire Native American nation The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By the end of this century there will be 4 billion more people on Earth - and 3 billion of these extra souls . Some partners in the Arizona project issued a press release touting plans to build a forward-thinking community that embraces cutting-edge technology. There was talk of high-speed digital networks and autonomous logistics hubs. That was all it took for many in the media to conclude that Gates was personally engineering the city of the future. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The trust and Headley were given 30 days to respond to the letter. BlackRock is sometimes confused w/ Blackstone, which owned Invitation Homes. The Gates Foundation's trust invests in the same companies it serves through its development programs, including Monsanto, BASF, Coca Cola, PepsiCo, Unilever, and many others. Bill and Melinda Gates, pictured at The Elysee Palace in 2017 where they received the award of Commander of the Legion of Honor, are now the biggest owners of farmland in the US, a new report revealed, The tech billionaire has quietly bought up 242,000 acres of farmland in 18 states - and 268,984 of multi-use land in 19 states in total, making him the biggest agricultural landowner in the US, though far short of the biggest overall landowner in the country, In 2018, a 'Louisiana investor', later revealed to be Gates, paid $171 million for a large swath of farmland in the Horse Heaven Hill, making it one of the largest real estate transactions in recent memory, In 2014, Gates reportedly purchased more than 4,500 acres in Suwannee County, Florida, for nearly $28 million. Kids in England had to wear masks at school because No10 'didn't want an argument' with Nicola Sturgeon - Health ministers knew there was no evidence to justify making kids abide by rule of 6 - but No10 'didn't Sunak bustled like a wide-eyed labrador, his tail waggier than a windscreen wiper in a downpour: HENRY Bill Gates: America's Top Farmland Owner | The Land Report, Do not sell or share my personal information. The portion of land that isn't owned by farmers varies widely regionally; in some areas, almost 80 percent of agricultural land is held by non-operators. Behind Gates in terms of investment in farmland are the cofounders of the Wonderful Company, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, with 190,000 acres. Making farming a business is the way to push African agriculture, says Robert Guei of the FAO in Rome, Italy. Left to die alone like an animal: Parents who left 23-stone disabled daughter to die in her own filth are Holiday home owners in Scotland face new SNP tax hike under plans from front-runner to be new First Scotland should just self-identify as an independent country, one SNP member proposed. What does a technology pioneer want with agriculture? Farming is all of a sudden part of the solution and not just part of the problem, Sherrick adds. Get the world's best independent media newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. 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. , said his investment group was behind the purchases, and suggested it was linked to seed and biofuel development. But some of the software pioneers investments do reveal his grander goals. PROS & THINGS I LIKE &Beyond Mnemba Island Lodge is situated on a tiny tropical island, just 2 km (1,2 mi) off the north-eastern coast of Zanzibar in the turquoise waters of the warm Indian Ocean.The stunningly beautiful, triangularly shaped island has a small forest of casuarina trees at its heart, and is ringed by a blinding white, powder soft coral sand beach (more on that below). Theres a tendency in the media to personalize this, OKeefe says. John Malone is the largest private landowner in the United States. Over the past three years she has trebled her farms output and increased her income 15-fold (see A life transformed). They bought and later sold an additional 6,000 acres in Georgia, NBC News found. Almost 300,000 acres is a lot of land for one family or private individual to own, but it's still just a small part of the estimated 911 million acres of farmland in the US. He assigned his research team to dig a little deeper. Were predicting a decline of 20 to 40 per cent in rainfall across West Africa, says David Sarfo Ameyaw of AGRA. Banda has also been able to buy an ox cart and pay school fees for one of her children. Ive gotten a big earful on this from clear across the state, its not even from that neighborhood, said Goehring. Why does Bill Gates now own more than 240,000 acres across the country? Adding to the confusion, Blackstone was once a major investor in BlackRock, but sold off its stake in the 1990s. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates finally revealed the reasons behind his massive purchase of farmland: seed science and biofuel development. In total he owns 268,984 acres of land of all types in 19 states, including a suburb up for development - as a so-called 'smart city' - outside Phoenix, Arizona. But, while Belmont might not be a smart city, it still looks like a smart investment. One of the consequences of farm operators not actually owning their land is figuring out where farm subsidy money goes; much of it trickles to the actual owner of the land, who may just be treating farmland as a basic real estate investment. THREE years ago, Lucy Banda and her six children lived in a two-room house made of soil dampened and tamped into a dome, with just one bedroom and a living room. Red River Trust filed paperwork with the office of the secretary of state of North Dakota on Feb. 15 of this year. The group is called Leading Harvest, and the Gates-linked Cottonwood Ag is one of its founding members. Large investors usually work with expert advisors to help them acquire and manage their agricultural holdings. Gates Biggest Owner of Farmland in US Now says: "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. That proposed superhighway would run across a 5-mile stretch of the Belmont property. In the future, farmers will be paid for sustainability, says Sherrick, who sits on the groups board. They supplement that with any animal manure they have, and compost made from the remains of their previous crops. Most notably, in 2017, the Gates-affiliated Mt. Hes the largest landowner in the United States. Gates owns a 4.5 acre ranch in Wellington, Florida. A single square mile contains 640 acres. of the richest people in the country, owns less than one percent of the nations total farmland. Expanding the AGRA scheme was set to be high on the agenda, Jama says. There isn't some grand scheme involved - in fact all these decisions are made by a professional investment team.". . For comparison, the state of Rhode Island covers an area of 1,214 square miles. How fitting! With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. Kroenke is married to Ann Walkton Kroenke, an heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune. The same logic likely holds for Gates Arizona acquisitions. Bill Gates does not own the majority of U.S. farmland. the latest American Housing Survey by the Census Bureau. Will Bill Gatess green tech initiatives ever intersect with his growing agricultural empire? In a 2020 blog post, he wrote, "The rich should pay more than they currently do, and that includes Melinda and me.". In June 2008, Gates stepped away from the day-to-day management of Microsoft and concentrated on charity. "Bill Gates, co-founder of . The tech billionaire, 65, owns 242,000 acres of agricultural land in 18 states His largest holdings are in Louisiana, Arkansas, Arizona and Nebraska; Gates owns total of 268,984 acres of land of . In a new report, GRAIN analyses all the food and agriculture grants the foundation has made up until 2020, and reveals that while the Foundation allegedly prioritises African farmers, the vast majority of its funding actually goes to groups in North America and Europe. It aims to help poor farmers, especially in Africa and South Asia, get the tools, technologies, and resources they need to lift themselves out of poverty. If each acre can produce more food, thats good news for farmers. This parcel apparently makes up the bulk of the billionaire couples farmland holdings. One other use for the farmland Gates has acquired is to grow crops for biofuels. And the Belmont property is located along Interstate 10, the regions major east-west artery, making it an excellent location for Amazon-style warehouse complexes. What made the difference was a boost in the productivity of her land. Gates,in an Ask Me Anything sessionon Redditlast year, said his investment group was behind the purchases, and suggested it was linked to seed and biofuel development. While he owns a significant amount, it is a relatively small slice of the nations nearly 900 million total farm acres. Starting in 2013, Gates began investing his billions (through the firm Cascade Investment) in agriculture because of its steady increase in value and low volatility. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. retail, office buildings, hotels and apartment complexes, rather than single-family homes, but he declined to provide a breakdown. Of those rentals, less than a third are owned by non-individual investors, according to a 2022 report by Harvard Universitys Joint Center for Housing Studies. More surprising, however, was the fact that Bill and Melinda Gates own more private farmland . Deploying high-yield . BlackRock also does not own the majority of the countrys 80 million single-family homes. "Why are you buying up so much farmland, do you think this is a problem with billionaire wealth and how much you can disproportionally acquire?" In six years that number has more than doubled. One major customer for AGRA farmers is the UN World Food Programme (WFP), a famine-relief organisation. Bill Gates is the largest owner of land in America and there's a food crisis.. Bill Gates is the largest investor in renewables and there's a oil shortage.. Pelham (@Resist_05) April 18, 2022 Cutting-Edge technology in six years that number has more than 250,000 times the largest landowner... 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