That program ensures agriculture on the land is audited to meet standards, like soil health and water management, created by the nonprofit Leading Harvest, which counts one of the subsidiaries of Gates investment firm as a partner. Thats why lands still managed by Indigenous peoples worldwide protect and sustain 80% of the worlds biodiversity, practices anathema to industrial agriculture. Bill Gates' farmland buying spree highlights investment appeal Bill Gates is now America's biggest farmer - The Telegraph 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. According to 2021 article from the Land Report, a magazine about land ownership, Gates owns approximately 242,000 . Bill Gates is investing big in American farmland | Crosscut America's leading landowners added hundreds of thousands of acres to their holdings last year. This could allow you to sell or lease the individual lots of land on the property. Report: Bill Gates is largest owner of private farmland in U.S., with Malone also has 25% shares in Liberty Global, the largest international cable company with just under 30million subscribers, and owns 8% of the Atlanta Braves baseball team. This means that you can find good deals that may be just the thing you are looking for. 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.. 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. Follow Bill Gates: Do Not Invest In Tech, Invest In Farmland - Gizchina.com In this country, enslaved Black labor first built US wealth atop stolen Native land. U.S. Census Bureau data shows fewer than 20% of such properties are rentals, and the vast majority of those are owned by individual investors, not institutional investors like BlackRock. 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. Who Owns More Land: Bill Gates, McDonald's or The Catholic Church? Every Property Bill and Melinda Gates Owned Together | RISMedia\'s Here is the . That is a big chunk of land. BILL Gates' $80billion property empire now hangs in the balance after he and his wife of 27 years announced they are divorcing. This can be an affordable way to get started with your raw land investments. So why did the Land Report, Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. Weve never been one of the big institutional buyers of single family homes, BlackRock said in response to one tweet. He also owns three hotels in Dublin, Ireland, and a fourth in Limerick. That doesnt mean that every piece of land is a good investment, but a significant amount of land will offer a high return on investment. The land is owned both directly and indirectly by Cascade Investment, the Seattle-area firm that Gates the worlds third-richest man with a net worth of $132 billion, according to Bloomberg set up to manage his massive fortune, according to The Land Report. *According to figures compiled by The Land Report in 2019. (Google Maps), Image: The building housing the offices of Cascade Investment in Kirkland, Wash., on May 22, 2021. Dr. Alan Busacca, professor emeritus at Washington State University, told Land Report at the time that the fertile land in the area was used for growing 'apples, cherries, carrots, dryland and irrigated wheat, and row and field crops'. The Gates Foundation said in a statement that its agriculture efforts do not extend to farming in the U.S. The largest. Gates achievement, according to the report, is that hes largest private owner of farmland in the US. The map shows a 242,000 acre square situated over New York. 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. MINOT, N.D. North Dakotans like to pride themselves on being pro-property rights. Gates shares ownership with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talalthe two purchased the chain in 2007 for $3.8 billion. The billionaire couple, in less than a. While Gates is Americas biggest farmland owner, hes far from being the nations largest landowner in general. Renewable energy company Savion has an option to buy the property for what . Gates portfolio comprises about 242,000 acres of farmland and nearly 27,000 acres of other land across 19 states, according to The Land Report, a magazine for land investors that tracks the nations biggest landowners. The acquisition, however . The extensive tax avoidance by these titans of industry will always far exceed their supposed charitable donations to the public. FILE - Bill Gates attends a discussion during the 'Munich Security Conference' in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. askBAMLand.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. 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. Our exposure to Invitation Homes is owning its stock in mutual funds we manage, not buying houses w/ them, BlackRock tweeted. 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. Starting in 2012, Gates investment firm began buying family farms in South Georgia. You can also look at local resources in your area to see where land is being bought or sold. Many people wonder why Bill Gates would make these moves with his investment portfolio. While he owns a significant amount, it is a relatively small slice of the nations nearly 900 million total farm acres. 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). Gates' achievement, according to the report, is that he's largest private owner of farmland in the US. And we think it will provide good inflation protection in the long run. Behind Gates in terms of investment in farmland are the cofounders of the Wonderful Company, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, with 190,000 acres. Buffalo Bill Cody's Ranch in Cody, Wyoming: Undisclosed Sale Price (Listed for $8.9 Million). Land can produce food, fuel, and manufacturing materials as well as provide environmental services, residential spaces, and more. 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. To put that into perspective, thats nearly the size of Hong Kong and twice the acreage of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, where Im an enrolled member. This number stems from last year's edition of . The family's 1.7 million acres of land are primarily spread across Washington, Oregon, and California. Bill Gates is betting big on US farmland - should you? Bill Gates: America's Top Farmland Owner | The Land Report. Our era is dominated by the ultra-rich, the climate crisis and a burgeoning green capitalism. Bill Gates is now the largest private landowner in the country. But theyre far better known for their work in tech and in trying to save the climate. Today, Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland in 19 states. BlackRock also suggested it was being confused for the similarly-named investment management firm Blackstone, which until recently owned Invitation Homes. They add it will take those with large parcels of land, like the Gateses U.S. farmland holdings, to do it. There farmers primarily grow soybeans, rice, corn and cotton. , said his investment group was behind the purchases, and suggested it was linked to seed and biofuel development. The foundation aims to support country-led inclusive agricultural transformation across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, according to its website. In 2014, he reportedly purchased more than 4,500 acres in Suwannee County, Florida, for nearly $28 million. By (Matt Odom / for NBC News), Image: John Quarterman (Matt Odom / for NBC News), Image: Philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda listen to the speech by French President Francois Hollande, prior to being awarded Commanders of the Legion of Honor at the Elysee Palace in Paris (Kamil Zihnioglu / Pool via Reuters), American businessman and philanthropist (born 1955). And in Florida, farmers grow carrots on their property. The sale was notable because it added to Gates' farmland holdings which includes large tracts of land in Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, California, and about a dozen other states. Lemmon Holdings, the billionaire spent $80 million to purchase. But, As of February 2021, Gates has made headlines across the wor. Not only that, but it fits in with Gates values as a philanthropist because he can keep the farmland healthy for future generations. A white man owns more farmland than my entire Native nation! Bill Gates acquired six parcels of land in Pembina County. retail, office buildings, hotels and apartment complexes, rather than single-family homes, but he declined to provide a breakdown. 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. Bill Gates' 20,000 acres in Nebraska help make him the top farmland 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. You can read more about us, here. Which is where the Bill Gates' Land Ownership interactive map comes in. The worlds richest 1% emit double the carbon of the poorest 50%, an 2020 Oxfam study found. That land is now largely rented out to various farmers. As the population grows in large cities, some people will inevitably want to move to the country. You can email us at contact@askbamland.com. 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. buying an increasing share of the U.S. housing market. Its a hedging strategy, said Daniel Bigelow, a professor of agricultural economics at Montana State University, who previously served as a USDA research economist. Bill Gates Called Out By Farmer For Secretly Buying Up US Farmland: 'I