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 . The financial crisis later in that same decade prompted an explosion of investments into farmland when monetary safe havens became scarce. Sign up for notifications from Insider! Gates is also number 49 on a list of individuals, families, and businesses who own farmland in the states. 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. Gates and his wife Melinda own 242,000 acres of farmland in the U.S. from February that showed there were more than 895 million total acres of farmland in the country last year. A 6,300-acre farm owned by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates near Columbus could be developed into one of the nation's biggest solar energy sites. His environmental bent also extends to farming. The company is the largest producer of wool in Australia. I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs. Im hoping to lay a concrete floor soon, she says. That makes Invitation Homes the, largest operator of single-family rental homes in the country, but still represents, BlackRock also suggested it was being confused for the similarly-named i. nvestment management firm Blackstone, which until recently owned Invitation Homes. It is not connected to climate. Thats because the old adage goes: Buy landthey arent making it anymore. (Which volcanologists know isnt exactly true, but you get the idea). ; That makes him the largest landowner in the U.S. Stats show agriculture is a pretty good investment for . 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. Were connecting [smallholders] to the entire business chain, says Jama. BlackRock, meanwhile, is also not the owner of the majority of single family houses in the country. 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According to Mother Jones, the average price of farmland increased six times from 1940 to 2015, and the trend is likely to continue as the amount of arable land in the U.S. continues to shrink from climate-related pressures. Since 2016, Gates has led Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a venture-capital fund that invests in clean-technology startups. Lemmon Holdings invested in some 40 square miles of transitional land on the western fringe of the Phoenix sprawl. However, the land held only amasses 1 percent of the total acres of farmland in the United States. For investors who know what theyre doing, agricultural land offers financial stability in uncertain times. Malone's 2.2 million acres are largely located in Maine, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming and include profitable cattle ranches. He hopes plant-based substitutes will allow us to cut down on meat eating while still enjoying the taste of meat.. Published: 23:06 GMT, 15 January 2021 | Updated: 07:04 GMT, 16 January 2021. We hope by 2015 to have reached 20 million smallholders, says Bashir Jama of AGRA, who runs the organisations soil health programme. 5. They bought and later sold an additional 6,000 acres in Georgia, NBC News found. Slectionnez Grer les paramtres pour grer vos prfrences. This parcel apparently makes up the bulk of the billionaire couples farmland holdings. That immediately set off alarm bells, OKeefe says. Bill Gates is one of the richest men in the world, but his wealth pales in comparison to that of other billionaires. 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 In fact, he reportedly owns more farmland than any other individual in America. 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. Many believe unhinged conspiracy theorists fuel the trend. In 2019, it was reported that Impossible Burger was facing a shortage of soy because it relied on farms that didnt use genetically modified seeds. Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. It has become a marquee brand in one of the hottest sectors of the food business. With the Washington state acreage and other recent additions to his portfolio, O'Keefe calculated, Gates now owns at least 242,000 acres of American farmland. He assigned his research team to dig a little deeper. Corporate Agriculture Against Global Hunger. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops delivered daily to your inbox. AGRAs aim, helping small farmers become professional, is backed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The title for largest landholdings overall goes to US businessman John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media, who owns 2.2million acres. Meanwhile, American agriculture today is being transformed as farmers employ new technologies and Big Data to help them manage their crops. For five generations, the Reed Family has owned and operated the logging company Green Diamond Resource Co. That proposed superhighway would run across a 5-mile stretch of the Belmont property. 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. How Much Land Does Bill Gates Own In Africa? In addition, he owns 25,750 acres of transitional land and 1,234 acres of recreational land for total land holdings of 268,984 . Bill Gates and Neo-Feudalism: A Closer Look at Farmer Bill. That makes him the largest landowner in the U.S. Stats show agriculture is a pretty good investment for billionaires. Public records cited by AgWeek show that the Gates-linked Red River Trust bought the farmland from the owners of Campbell Farms, a potato farming group that is headquartered in Grafton, North Dakota, which is about 50 miles from the Canadian border. Follow Technocrats.newsfor more news and information related to Bill Gates and other big tech personalities. Gates has been buying land like it's going out of style. the Land Report published. Why Bill Gates Keeps Buying Up So Much Farmland, Particle Accelerator Reveals Beginning of Time, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. It isless than .1% of all US farmland because the ownership is so diverse. 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. 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. As the Land Report notes, 24,800 acres of the land is transitional, located on the western edge of Phoenix, the tenth-largest metropolitan area in the country, and the most populous city in Arizona. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions, Gates wrote, responding to a question in Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on social media platform Reddit in March. Groups of 15 to 25 smallholders are also being encouraged to form collectives. In 2006, African governments pledged to inject 10 per cent of their spending into agriculture, says Ameyaw. Climate change is happening, and we must use all best practices to allow farmers to adapt. 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. For their part, governments must improve water storage and create drought-resistant crops. The outlet reported this week that Gates, 65, owns 268,984 acres of land . Bill Gates owns a minimum of 242,000 acres of U.S. farmland in Washington, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, California and multiple other states Gates has a big vision for all that land, but unfortunately it doesn't involve organic, biodynamic or regenerative farming methods, which are needed to heal ecosystems and produce truly sustainable . Gates responded: "I own less than 1/4000 of the farmland in the US. The vision is to produce more efficiently, but to be aware that climate change is happening, and that we must use all best practices to allow farmers to adapt, says Guei. Sales of more than a thousand acres are blue-moon events, OKeefe noted, so this one stood out. Cost and bad infrastructure have long prevented farmers from fertilising their fields, so many African countries have been losing nutrients from their soils (see map above). How fitting! The landowners can include investors like Gates. A more in-depth look at the facts makes a compelling case against the billionaire. 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. Adding to the confusion, Blackstone was once a major investor in BlackRock, but sold off its stake in the 1990s. "Bill Gates, co-founder of . This is part of a broader 269,000-acre land portfolio belonging to the couple and associated entities across 19 states, with the largest holdings in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Arizona (25,750 acres). Behind Gates in terms of investment in farmland are the cofounders of the Wonderful Company, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, with 190,000 acres. 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. According to press reports, Gates farmland empire is mostly managed by a Cascade subsidiary called Cottonwood Ag Management. 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'. Gates and his wife own 269,000 acres of farmland. With $22 million in . *According to figures compiled by The Land Report in 2019. AGRA was set up in 2006 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. 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. 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. 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. Jama of AGRA, who runs the organisations soil health programme New,... 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