America's leading landowners added hundreds of thousands of acres to their holdings last year. One answer might surprise you: While trying to track down who recently purchased 14,500 acres of choice farmland in Washington state's Columbia River Basin, researchers at The Land Report discovered the new owner was Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Bill Gates uses farmland as investment vehicle, owning 269,000 acres of land. You can email us at contact@askbamland.com. The six-bed Del Mar home, which boasts a ten-person jacuzzi and swimming pool overlooking the ocean, was bought by the couple in late Marchas the international coronavirus pandemic began to take hold. 2,167 acres. 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. While private companies and corporations are increasing . Bill Gates has invested in various high-profile commercial properties through his personal investment company, Cascade. Land holds ample opportunities for growth and development, yet you may find that there is more land than there is competition. Apparently Bill Gates now owns almost 242,000 acres of land in the United States. 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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. He owns 242,000 acres, which is equivalent to the area of Fannin County GA. 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. Here is the . 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. 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. Land is power, land is wealth, and, more importantly, land is about race and class. The Gates Rancho Santa Fe estate was purchased in 2014 because of its horse stables and proximity to a local race horse track. Thanks for contacting us. This will always be true, no matter where the land is. The 14,000 acres in Washington is used for potatoes and in Florida the land is used for carrots. Quarterman guessed that may be because Bill Gates isnt the one doing the farming. 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. These land holdings are separate from their previous investments in companies that support large-scale farming like Monsanto and the tractor manufacturer John Deere. That was a virus I got from Ted Turner.. Housecall is the official blog of RISMedia, covering real estate news and information for agents, brokers and their clients. Hes the landlord, or rather, the companies owned by his investment firm are the landlords. Additionally, through his personal investment firm, Cascade, Bill Gates owns approximately half of the Four Season Holdings' hotel chain. But why do a handful of people own so much land? 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. The Associated Press reports that last week, billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates was cleared to purchase 2,100 acres of rural North Dakota farmland. Not only is it usable by you, but land can be used for so many different things. MINOT, N.D. North Dakotans like to pride themselves on being pro-property rights. It just seemed like a good thing to do., 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, A map has revealed which billionaire owns the most land in the US, and it's not Bill Gates, John Malone owns about 2.2million acres of land across the United States, In comparison, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates owns about 270,000 acres of farmland, Malone is worth an estimated $9.22billion, Meet the largest landowner in the US as map reveals stunning amount of land billionaire owns and its not Bill Gates. Reed family: Land area: 1.7 million acres. 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. Some of that land, including nearly 300 acres, was sold in 2019 to the California-based Grimmway Farms, the worlds largest carrot producer. The outlet reported this week that Gates, 65, owns 268,984 acres of. 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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. Bill Gates owns more private farmland in the US than anyone else, an analysis by The Land Report found.His 242,000 acres of farmland stretch across 18 states Bill Gates owns farmland in 18 states . He also purchased the 800-acre Bridlewood Farms in Florida. Last year, Cascade Investment made a second major investment in Arizona by acquiring more than 2,800 acres known as Spurlock Ranch in Buckeye for $25 million, that could be built out to include 8,500 homes. 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. 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. Black, Mexican, Asian, and Native people, of course, were categorically excluded from the benefits of a federal program that subsidized and protected generations of white wealth. Gates' achievement, according to the report, is that he's largest private owner of farmland in the US. 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. 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. Bill and Melinda bought this massive mansion in the Coachella Valley for $12.5 million in 1999. Farmland offers a strategy that is completely separated from his other wealth and investments. Like other investment opportunities, you can find land for sale online. retail, office buildings, hotels and apartment complexes, rather than single-family homes, but he declined to provide a breakdown. And the firm said its very supportive of sustainable farming. APS ASSESSMENT: False. Bill Gates is the largest private owner of American farmland, which is why so many people are wondering what he will use it for. 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 fact, he reportedly owns more farmland than any other individual in America. 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. 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. 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 is possible to make high double digit returns on land that you bought for an affordable price only a few years prior. After all, few can out-bid Bill Gates. Bill and Melinda have diversified their portfolioworth more than $130 billionfor years, and one of their favorite investments is real estate. He never did anything that different from before he got here and what other farmers were doing nearby.". We've received your submission. 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. 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). While land is a limited resource, there is still less competition for raw land than there is with residential and commercial real estate. 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..
