Gates-affiliated ownership covers vast swaths of farm and timberland, estimated to be 69,071 acres in all by niche land ownership publication The Land Report. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. Bill Gates is buying up the majority of American farmland and BlackRock is buying the majority of single-family houses but I'm supposed to believe the biggest threat to us is Elon Musk buying Twitter? one Twitter user wrote (here). For now, Gatess ever-expanding farmland ownership is really just rich guy doing rich guy things, and while concerning in a late-stage capitalism sort of way, it isnt as cartoonishly nefarious as some conspiratorial corners of the internet want to believe. Who is the largest landowner in the world? Over the last decade, Bill Gates has invested in multiple companies, including Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, that develop plant-based meat alternatives. Since it works as an investment for him, it also includes the benefits of using land as an . Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. Distance from Michigan to Detroit The shortest route between Michigan and Detroit is, Michigan law is absolutely clear that an adult over the age of 21 shall not sell or furnish alcohol to a minor. It has also funded myriad research facilities and humanitarian operations, focusing on overcoming diseases, climate change, agricultural research, and health and nutrition in underdeveloped areas. This isn't the first time Gates has called for higher taxes on the wealthy. Gates started purchasing farmland circa 2013 through his investment group, Cascade Investments. Data gathered by The Land Report and NBC News show that their land holdings range from 70,000 acres in north Louisiana, where their farmland grows soybeans, corn, cotton and rice, to 20,000 acres . Heres why. Hes the largest landowner in the United States. Gates personal farmland portfolio is managed by Michael Larson and Cascade Investment. The U.S. Federal Government. The transitional land he owns in Arizona is reportedly being built into a suburb .. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions." Back in January, US magazine The Land Report revealed that Bill and Melinda Gates have amassed the largest portfolio of private farmland in the US, comprising an estimated 242,000 acres. Alongside his investments, Gates has also purchased farmland in at least 19 states, according to The Land Report. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. In Washington, the duo owns more than 14,000 acres of farmland that includes potato . That's a ginormous deal, one that pencils out to almost $12,000 per acre for a whole lot of acres. Gates has been asked about his farmland purchases before. 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. Bill GatesWith almost 269,000 acres, Bill Gates retained his ranking as Americas largest private farmland owner. During his 11th appearance in the "Ask Me Anything" . His largest holding is in Louisiana (69,071 acres), followed by Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Arizona (25,750 acres). The Michigan State University shooter is a 21-year-old man named Lynn Dee Walker. 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. Today, Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland in 19 states. The Bureau of Labor Statistics latest update shows egg prices rose 60% over the last year. Those people are upset, but there are others that are just livid about this.. According to OKeefe, Gates isnt the only one making moves on the farmland market, especially as farm real estate values nationwide increased 7% from 2020 to $3,390 per acre. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. As of the latest Rental Housing Finance Survey (2018), there were 19.955 million rental properties in the United States (bit.ly/3FdPtKZ), 17.16 million of them single unit rental properties (bit.ly/3KLCjWH). Gates does not own the majority of U.S. farmland. Gates' farmland purchases, which have mostly been made in the last five years, started in 2017 when he bought $520 million of farmland spread over five dozen properties from the Canada. According to the Tri-City Herald, a 14,500-acre swath of choice eastern Washington farmland in the Horse Heaven Hills of Benton County had just traded hands for almost $171 million. Who owns the most property in Detroit Michigan? A Grimmway Farms employee moves a water pipe at one of their carrot farms in the Antelope Valley. Instead, he mostly acts like a landlord and allows professional farmers to keep doing their thingeven if those practices are ruinous to the environment. Accessed 28 Apr. The total portfolio of farmland is worth well over $700 million. Recently, NBC News reported that Bill Gates along with his estranged wife Melinda Gates had acquired more than 269,000 acres of farm in the United States in the past 10 years. Their low fees and competitive returns set them apart from many of the other platforms out there. More surprising, however, was the fact that Bill and Melinda Gates own more private farmland . Nebraska has the third-most Gates-owned farmland in the nation. Bill Gates owns massive parcels of farmland. stated on February 13, 2023 in a Facebook post, Gates investments in plant-based meat and farmland. Estes, Nick. Fact Check-Bill Gates doesn't own most U.S. farmland - Reuters He's the new MacDonald: Bill Gates owns hundreds of thousands of acres across the United States including 242,000 acres of farmland making him the country's top agricultural landholder, according to Eric O'Keefe's The Land Report. 1 landowner in the U.S. is billionaire John Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media, who tops . Whose land is it anyway? Farmers, billionaires - Michigan Farm News With all of this recent farmland accumulation, one might think Gates is using this land to research these gene edited super seeds. Does Michigan Allow Personal Tax Exemptions? Social media post scrambles the facts on high egg prices, Gateway Pundit, "Bill Gates Invested In Artificial Eggs a Decade Before Egg Shortage," Jan. 24, 2023, PolitiFact, "What Bill Gates has to do with livestock, lab-grown meat," May 18, 2020, PolitiFact, "Eggflation? Gates and his investment team own more than 240,000 acres, as reported by OKeefe, including 2,167 acres in Michigan. Why Bill Gates is the largest private farmland owner in the United The 2,100 acre potato farm adds to his massive portfolio of farm investments. Bill Gates just bought 2,100 acres of farmland in North Dakota, adding to the 270,000 acres he inexplicably owns throughout the US China also just bought 300 acres there, adding to the 192,000 . With her 6.6 billion acres, Elizabeth II is far and away the worlds largest landowner, with the closest runner-up (King Abdullah) holding control over a mere 547 million, or about 12% of the lands owned by Her Majesty, The Queen. The report states that Gates has 70,000 acres of land in North Louisiana where they grow soybeans, corn, cotton. Of those states, Gates owns the most land in Louisiana, where he is proprietor of more than 69,000 acres. He had accumulated more than 269,000 acres of farmland across 18 states in less than a decade. Bill Gates Is the Biggest Private Owner of Farmland in the United States. In fact, he reportedly owns more farmland than any other individual in America. Gates' interest in farmland is still strong. He was right when he predicted the COVID-19 epidemic in 2015. Why Bill Gates Is Investing Big Time In Farmland Across Washington And The Country - Northwest Public Broadcasting About Contact Us Coverage Area Our Staff Work With Us Report an Outage Station News Latest Station News Connect Archives Our Stories Download NWPB App TV Schedules Channel Guide Online Schedules Download Schedules Local Programs The report states that Gates has 70,000 acres of land in North Louisiana where they grow soybeans, corn, cotton. Talk about big bets. In January 2021, Bill Gates became the largest owner of farmland in the United States. Since his divorce, it is unclear how the assets were split up between the couple. Bill Gates currently owns over 268,000 acres of American farmland spread out over 19 states. To put that into perspective, if you put all of the land that Gates owns into one place (his holdings are spread throughout the country), you'd cover an area about a quarter the size of Rhode Island. Although nowhere near 80 percent of U.S. farmland, its still a little more than one-third of the state of Rhode Island, a surprising amount for one person and enough to make Gates the largest landowner in the U.S. It is reported that Bill Gates owns over 269,000 acres of farmland in over a dozen states, making him the largest farmland owner in America. He has been buying thousands of acres across America. American Homes 4 Rent holds around 57,024 single-family properties (here). In a 2020 blog post, he wrote, "The rich should pay more than they currently do, and that includes Melinda and me.". Why Bill Gates Keeps Buying Up So Much Farmland, 60 Scientists Are Trying to Block the Sun, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. Gates does not own anywhere close to the majority of America's farmland. Bill Gates To put it into perspective, if all of Gates land was in one place, it would cover about 25% of Rhode Island. Bill Gates is the largest farmland owner in America: report - New York Post More than 58 million birds in hundreds of commercial and backyard flocks have been affected since the bird flu outbreak began in February 2022, the Agriculture Department estimated. Age Requirements Most ordinances require, Huckleberries are small bright blue, or dark blue, or black berries which grow wild near marshes in Michigan. As we learned above, in most farmland investment situations, the farmland owner leases their land to tenant farmers, who usually live on and work the land. Merged from the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation quickly became the largest private foundation in history. Lower-than-usual egg inventories near the end of the year, when demand is up from holiday baking, resulted in several successive weeks of record-high egg prices, the department said. Other examples can be seen (here), (here). Social media post scrambles the facts on high egg prices," Jan. 13, 2023, Various searches on Google and Nexis, accessed Jan. 24, 2023, The Land Report, "Farmer Bill," Jan. 11, 2021, The Land Report, "Bill Gates is About to Change the Way America Farms," Winter 2020 magazine issue, The Land Report 100, Winter 2021 magazine issue, The Land Report 100, Winter 2022 magazine issue, Email exchange, Eric OKeefe, editor, The Land Report, Jan. 23, 2023, Email exchange, Gates Ventures, Jan. 24, 2023, GatesNotes, "Future of food," March 18, 2013, GatesNotes, "What the plow and lab-grown meat tell us about innovation," Feb. 27, 2019, GatesNotes, "Is there enough meat for everyone?," April 21, 2015, GatesNotes, "Why I would raise chickens," June 7, 2016, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Consumer Price Index," Jan. 12, 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture, "Avian influenza outbreaks reduced egg production, driving prices to record highs in 2022," Jan. 11, 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture, "2022-2023 Confirmations of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Commercial and Backyard Flocks," Jan. 18, 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture, "Avian Influenza," Jan. 18, 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture, "Farms and Land in Farms, 2021 Summary," February 2022, Reddit, Bill Gates Ask Me Anything, March 19, 2021, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "Agricultural Development," accessed Jan. 24, 2023, Associated Press, "Bill Gates owns a lot of American farmland, but not the majority," May 2, 2022, Vox, "The controversy over Bill Gates becoming the largest private farmland owner in the US," June 11, 2021, NBC News, "McDonald's french fries, carrots, onions: all of the foods that come from Bill Gates farmland," June 8, 2021, Reuters, "Fact Check-Bill Gates doesnt own most U.S. farmland; BlackRock doesnt own most houses," May 5, 2022, CNBC, "Bill Gates and Richard Branson are betting lab-grown meat might be the food of the future," March 23, 2018, CNBC, "Bill Gates bets on growing demand for sustainable foods," May 14, 2015, Bloomberg News, "Lab-Grown Meat Backed by Gates, Tyson Foods Faces U.S. 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). Another meme circulating online reads: Bill Gates is buying all the farmland. This, combined with holiday demand and continued coronavirus pandemic-related supply-chain pressures, have affected the market. Because of this crucial factor inherent to farmland, it also tends to provide better, consistent returns during times where inflation rises another scenario where more traditional assets like stocks and real estate suffer in. Gates private office, Gates Ventures, told PolitiFact this claim is false. 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. At the turn of this century, Chinese owners owned about 192,000 acres of farmland in the U.S., according to the USDA. Gates' interest in farmland is still strong. The report states that Gates has 70,000 acres of land in North Louisiana where they grow soybeans, corn . Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting. the Gates Foundation answers the top ten questions they received, and they admitted that they didnt think it was fair that their family had so much global influence. The Land Reportmagazine 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. Bill Gates owns more private farmland in the US than anyone else, an analysis by The Land Report found. Some are near cities and might end up having other uses.". It has been very fulfilling for me and is my full time job," Gates continued. He has invested in multiple companies developing artificial or plant-based alternatives to meat, but he supports chicken farming and agricultural development. Thus, in Gates mind, its extremely important to help empower these developing peoples before that year comes to fruition. See MCL 436.1701., Michigan taxpayers are allowed to take a number of exemptions, depending on the number of people in the taxpayers household, their ages, and other factors, If the defendant is held for more than 24 hours without being brought before the court under subsection (2), the officer in charge of the, An ORV or off-road vehicle is a motor-driven, recreational vehicle capable of driving on a range of terrains not limited to roadways and, Michigan leads the nation in tart cherry production. In fact, Gates is the owner of over 270,000 acres of farmland, which is worth over $700 million! By Dec. 31, 2022, the Agriculture Department reported 43 million egg-laying hens had died because of the disease or depopulation. No, its the Roman Catholic Church. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Plum Creek, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is the largest private landowner in Michigan after purchasing 650,000 acres in 2005. The . Why did he decide to buy in Amish Country? Using those figures, Gates would own about 0.027% of U.S. farmland. Pates wrote that while "nobody involved in the deal seems eager to talk about it," public records connected Gates and the buyer, Red River Trust.