Bill Gates now owns 242,000 acres of farmland, making him America’s biggest private farmland owner, according to a new report
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Microsoft cofounder and philanthropist Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland in the US – making him the largest private farmland owner nationwide, according to a national survey.
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Gates, whose net worth of nearly $121 billion makes him the world’s fourth-richest person, and his wife Melinda Gates hold an extensive farmland portfolio stretching over 18 states, according to The Land Report.
The Gates family’s biggest holdings are in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Nebraska (20,588 acres).
The farmland is held both directly and through Cascade Investments, a firm controlled by Gates to manage his investments, according to The Land Report’s research.
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Most of the farmland that Gates owns in Arizona is being transformed into a new suburb with 80,000 homes, 3,400 acres of open space, and 470 acres for schools, with the help of Cascade Investment, the Arizona Republic reported in 2017.
Gates’ ownership of masses of farmland isn’t entirely surprising. In 2017, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $300 million over three years to support research that will help low-income farmers in Asia and Africa adapt to climate change.
The following year, Gates Foundation announced it would invest $40 million in research to breed chickens that lay better-quality eggs and cows that produce more milk for farms in South Asia and Africa.
Runners up in the rankings were the Offutt family, who have a long history in farming dating back to 1964, and own 190,000 acres.
Stewart and Lynda Resnick, co-founders of investment firm The Wonderful Company, also own 190,000 acres of farmland in the US, which helps produce the goods for their brands Wonderful Pistachios, POM Wonderful, and Wonderful Halos mandarins.
Although Gates is America’s top farmland owner, he is far from the biggest landowner. The Land Report’s list of 100 largest US landowners in 2019 put billionaire businessman, landowner, and philanthropist John Malone in the number one spot, with 2.2 million acres of land.