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. Why does Bill Gates own so much farmland? - FoodIndustry.Com They add it will take those with large parcels of land, like the Gateses U.S. farmland holdings, to do it. Bill Gates' North Dakota Land Purchase Sparks Questions Online - Newsweek The opportunities are virtually endless. Now Bill Gates appears to have acquired a slice of their tiny city, and locals near. The billionaire Microsoft co-founder has become the largest owner of farmland in the United States by quietly buying up massive plots across the county, a new report says. It may even be easier to sell smaller lots than it would be to market the entire portion of land that you invest in. 23:06 GMT 15 Jan 2021 , an annual survey of the nations largest landowners. The potential is endless. 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. Bill Gates is betting big on US farmland - should you? For five generations, the Reed Family has owned and operated the logging company Green Diamond Resource Co. As the population grows in large cities, some people will inevitably want to move to the country. My investment group chose to do this, Bill Gates said on Reddit in March when asked about his farmland purchases while promoting his latest book, How to Avoid A Climate Disaster. It is not connected to climate. He did acknowledge that more productive farming techniques can help reduce deforestation in other parts of the world. It was the highest priced land sale in the US that year. Xanadu 2.0 in Medina, Washington: Estimated $140-170 Million, Source: Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times. Learn more about fact-checking at AP. They said farmland has been a popular investment for a long time because of its stability. 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. Fact Check-Bill Gates doesn't own most U.S. farmland - Reuters 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. 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. The Microsoft co-founder faced several claims that he owned a majority of America's farmland earlier this year. In May, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates revealed in a Twitter statement their decision to end their marriage after 27 years. We loved familys outdoor adventures so much we started a land business just to help others buy their own land. The billionaire media mogul Ted Turner epitomizes such disparities. Quarterman guessed that may be because Bill Gates isnt the one doing the farming. A white man owns more farmland than my entire Native nation! Mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California: $18 Million. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. (Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times via AP file), The buildings of the 100 Circles Farm are at the center of this satellite image. You may have heard that Bill Gates owns a lot of land, but you may not know how much. It will not tell you that Bill Gates is your neighbor. Wonderful Company cofounders Stewart and Lynda Resnick (net worth: $7.1 billion) ranked number three . His land ownership spans across 19 states. 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. This means that you can find good deals that may be just the thing you are looking for. He is also the chairman and largest stakeholder of Liberty Media, possessing 28% of Discovery Communications, which was acquired by Scripps Network for $14.6billion. While most people do not have the ability to buy hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland like Bill Gates, anybody can look at land as an investment opportunity to take advantage of. (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. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File ), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. 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. The piece noted that the firm owns at least 100,000 acres of farmland in California, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana and other states or an area seven times bigger than Manhattan.. 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. The opportunities are virtually endless. Bill Gates had managed to purchase nearly 269,000 acres of land in more than 12 states in the US. 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. 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. Land will likely never be a bad investment, as long as the land is healthy and properly located. In six years that number has more than doubled. BlackRock is sometimes confused w/ Blackstone, which owned Invitation Homes. They own the soil where the potatoes in McDonald's french fries grow, the carrots from the world's largest . We would love to talk to you! But he didn't, Quarterman said. What expertise in climate science or agriculture Gates possesses beyond being filthy rich is anyones guess. Farm Gates - Ohio Ag Net | Ohio's Country Journal 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. In this country, enslaved Black labor first built US wealth atop stolen Native land. He added: 'In addition, the states oldest winery, Chateau Ste. So what is this guy planning? An NBC News analysis also identified Gates as the largest farmland owner in the US. According to The Land Report, the Microsoft co-founder owns farmland across 18 states, with the largest holdings being in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Nebraska (20,588. , said his investment group was behind the purchases, and suggested it was linked to seed and biofuel development. ', Cascade did not elaborate on the agricultural land purchases other than to say that the company is 'very supportive of sustainable farming.'. Reed family: Land area: 1.7 million acres. Since 2017 he reportedly holds a significant stake in 24,800 acres of land on the west side of Phoenix. 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. 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 . Published: 18:36 ET, Dec 8 2022 Updated: 10:03 ET, Dec 9 2022 A MAP has revealed which billionaire owns the largest amount of land in the US - you'll be shocked to know that it isn't Bill Gates. Weve never been one of the big institutional buyers of single family homes, BlackRock, single-family rentals nationwide. 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. One of those farms, Stanley Farms, specialized in Vidalia onions, and another, Coggins Farms, focused on growing carrots. The agriculture sector is important, he wrote. The 14,000 acres in Washington is used for potatoes and in Florida the land is used for carrots. The private residential area is home to numerous A-list celebrity couples including Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. There, on Gates parcels, an industrial farm grows potatoes for McDonalds french fries. Land is power, land is wealth, and, more importantly, land is about race and class. 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. They accounted for almost 1% of the agricultural land in the United States. The value depends on a lot of factors including location, type of land, acreage, supply, demand, and more. You may have heard that Bill Gates owns a lot of land, but you may not know how much. 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. His 242,000 acres of farmland stretch across 18 states from Washington to Florida,. 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. A MAP has revealed which billionaire owns the largest amount of land in the US - youll be shocked to know that it isnt Bill Gates. TRENDING: OUCH! Farmland CNBC 2.94M subscribers Subscribe 47K 4.5M views 1 year ago #CNBC Bill Gates made. Can you imagine having that much property? Dailymail.com Reporter Why Is Bill Gates Buying So Much Farmland? - Farmland Riches The billionaire says he purchased the land because they are not making it anymore.. 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. Lets take a look at some of the reasons that land, particularly raw land, can be a good investment for Bill Gates or anybody else, including you. Bill Gates' 20,000 acres in Nebraska help make him the top farmland Weve been trained by experience, land acquisition courses, and hundreds of hours meeting with county assessors and clerks, zoning officials, realtors, and land investors. Land holds ample opportunities for growth and development, yet you may find that there is more land than there is competition. We've received your submission. 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. 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). The Associated Press reports that last week, billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates was cleared to purchase 2,100 acres of rural North Dakota farmland. But that could soon change. Since then, weve sold to dozens of people from ATV weekend warriors to camping enthusiasts to retired truck drivers. But theyre far better known for their work in tech and in trying to save the climate. 07:04 GMT 16 Jan 2021. As more and more land becomes developed, less and less raw land is available, which potentially increases the value as demand remains the same or even increases. In an interview with CNBC, Malone said that his biggest motivation for purchasing land was preservation and he said he hopes to buy more. Investors generally are nevertheless buying an increasing share of the U.S. housing market. Gates shares ownership with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talalthe two purchased the chain in 2007 for $3.8 billion. But billionaire class assertions that they are philosopher kings and climate-conscious investors who know better than the original caretakers are little more than ruses for what amounts to a 21st century land grab with big payouts in a for-profit economy seeking green solutions. Who Owns More Land: Bill Gates, McDonald's or The Catholic Church? The largest. 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Farmland can be an investment in several ways. 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. Recently, an article in Land Report stated that Bill Gates owns more American farmland than anyone else. In fact, he owns some of the land that produces potatoes used to make McDondalds french fries. The gun and the whip may not accompany land acquisitions this time around. Bill Gates Doesn't Own That Much Farmland | Aaron Smith 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. However, his largest land holdings are in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres), Nebraska (20,588 acres . The billionaire Microsoft co-founder has become the largest owner of farmland in the. The couple also snapped up an oceanfront home in San Diego County, California, last year, for a record making $43 million. 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. According to landreport.com, the Gates family has a total of 242,000 in farmland acreage in the United States. 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 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. Bill and Melinda bought this massive mansion in the Coachella Valley for $12.5 million in 1999. Weve never been one of the big institutional buyers of single family homes, BlackRock said in response to one tweet. Bill Gates Land Grab - YouTube This can be an affordable way to get started with your raw land investments. His firms largest farmland acquisition happened in 2017, when it acquired 61 farming properties from a Canadian investment firm to the tune of $500m. 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. You just have to keep it relatively clean, mow it, and pay property taxes. Bill Gates Called Out By Farmer For Secretly Buying Up US Farmland: 'I Bill Gates is now America's biggest farmer - The Telegraph 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. 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. It is possible to make high double digit returns on land that you bought for an affordable price only a few years prior. One of the Gates favorite vacation homes is in the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana. Those animals, which are sacred to my people and were nearly hunted to extinction by settlers, are preserved today on nearly 200,000 acres of Turners ranchland within the boundaries of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty territory in the western half of what is now the state of South Dakota, land that was once guaranteed by the US government to be a permanent home for Lakota people. 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. Buffalo Bill Cody's Ranch in Cody, Wyoming: Undisclosed Sale Price (Listed for $8.9 Million). The family's 1.7 million acres of land are primarily spread across Washington, Oregon, and California. That crown belongs to Liberty Media chairman John Malone, who has 2.2 million acres, according to The Land Report. Investors bought a record 18.4% of the homes purchased in the fourth quarter of 2021 three-quarters of which were single-family homes. Seems like there could be a lot to benefit more of their charities by selling some of this off. 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. 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. Gates diversified his investment portfolio through land ownership, but why? Additionally, through his personal investment firm, Cascade, Bill Gates owns approximately half of the Four Season Holdings' hotel chain. In other words, when the economy is struggling, the value of farmland generally doesnt depreciate. 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 attraction that people have to investing in farmland is that it tends to be countercyclical to the stock market. 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. But some farmers whose land is adjacent to that of the Gateses have expressed disappointment that despite the couples wealth, they have not done more to preserve the environment. 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. 4 Does Bill Gates Own the Majority of US Farmland? | Snopes.com The land that Gates owns is located in several states and consists primarily of commercial farmland. Bill Gates' farmland buying spree highlights investment appeal Mason notes that trying to draw hard lines between ones philanthropic work and ones investments does not work. While the Gateses are best known for their philanthropic work tackling large-scale societal problems, like funding the coronavirus vaccine and controlling malaria via the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, they have also invested in some companies rethinking food production and have endorsed the use of genetically modified seeds as one way to increase farming productivity and feed more people globally. 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. He's one of the richest men in the world and the largest individual owner of farmland in the country. Bill Gates may no longer be the world's richest man, but he can claim a new title: America's farmland king. This could give you a place to relax or to even build a small vacation home. 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. Ag Briefs: Bill Gates top private farmland owner in U.S. Bill Gates reveals reasons behind massive farmland purchases There farmers primarily grow soybeans, rice, corn and cotton. Right? Someone else is building that equity on their back, said Johnathan Hladik, the policy director at the Center for Rural Affairs, who is also a farmer in Nebraska. Housecall is the official blog of RISMedia, covering real estate news and information for agents, brokers and their clients. But, As of February 2021, Gates has made headlines across the wor. He never did anything that different from before he got here and what other farmers were doing nearby.". Thats why lands still managed by Indigenous peoples worldwide protect and sustain 80% of the worlds biodiversity, practices anathema to industrial agriculture. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'askbamland_com-box-4','ezslot_4',104,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-askbamland_com-box-4-0'); Well, why would you think that a billionaire would want to own land? BlackRock is sometimes confused w/ Blackstone, which owned Invitation Homes. retail, office buildings, hotels and apartment complexes, rather than single-family homes, but he declined to provide a breakdown. The conservation of lands is important, he said. Arable land is not just profitable. As more and more land becomes developed, less and less raw land is available, which potentially increases the value as demand remains the same or even increases. Stan Kroenke: Land area: 1.4 million acres. 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. Bill Gates may be trading his pocket protector for cowboy boots. The 1862 Homestead Act opened up 270m acres of Indigenous territory which amounts to 10% of US land for white settlement. 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. 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.