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. 5. The firm is a shareholder in Dallas-based Invitation Homes, which owns nearly 80,000 single-family rentals nationwide. How much land does he own? But the details are murky, and there is no evidence that the billionaires farmland-buying spree is driven by anything more than a desire to have a well-diversified portfolio. 4. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Late last year, Eric OKeefe was researching a mysterious recent purchase of 14,500 acres of prime Washington state farmland. from February that showed there were more than 895 million total acres of farmland in the country last year. 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. BlackRock also does not own the majority of the countrys 80 million single-family homes. Mr. He created the pledge in 2010 with his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, and his close friend and Berkshire Hathaway CEO, Warren Buffett. (According to The Land Report, Gates owns about 27,000 acres of non-agricultural land, in addition to his farm holdings.). The Land Report reference came out in winter 2021, after which controversies circulated about Gates' accumulation of American farmland. 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 He concentrated on third world countries, with the aim of improving health facilities, reduce diseases, poverty and the improvement of education but his real interest in Africa is a hidden agenda. Healthy mother-of-two, 32, collapsed and died from brain bleed while she led fitness bounce class. CNN founder Ted Turner owns 2 million acres of land largely in New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Georgia. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched in 2000 and has $46.8 billion in assets (December 2018). 2 min read. We wont even come close.. Larson makes money, and Mr. Gates gives it away., Larson and his team are famously tight-lipped. With $22 million in . The first necessity is fertiliser. Bill Gates Foundation's investment portfolio has Berkshire Hathaway Inc, as the largest holding among all his invested companies. Last year, Gates vowed to give away "virtually all" of his fortune to the philanthropic foundation he runs with French Gates. The billionaire cant seem to do anything without drawing the conspiratorial ire of online netizens. For their part, governments must improve water storage and create drought-resistant crops. P4P aims to link the smallholder farmers explicitly into the process. AGRA farms are key suppliers, says Gudmunds. Investment guru Michael Larson, who has worked with Gates since 1994, runs the Washington-based Cascade Investment, as well as supervising the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations nearly $50 billion endowment. She is thinking of buying land to build a house for renting, and a truck to allow her to trade her merchandise more widely. Today, the Belmont tract remains mostly empty desert. 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. A single square mile contains 640 acres. Most notably, in 2017, the Gates-affiliated Mt. It aims to help poor farmers, especially in Africa and South Asia, get the tools, technologies, and resources they need to lift themselves out of poverty. If each acre can produce more food, thats good news for farmers. That can mean better yields with decreased use of fertilizers and pesticides. In 2008 it launched a programme called Purchase for Progress (P4P) that targets smallholder suppliers, including those in 15 African countries. The billionaire tech mogul and philanthropist has quietly amassed nearly 270,000 acres of farmland across the country, but thats still a relatively small slice of the nations nearly 900 million total farm acres. New Scientist went to press before the meeting finished. Earlier this year, in May, claims were made that Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates owned the majority of America's farmland. While he owns a significant amount, it is a relatively small slice of the nation's nearly 900 million total farm acres. The same Gates Foundation which is behind every aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic from financing much of the WHO budget, to investing in favored vaccine-makers like Moderna, is engaged in a major project in Africa which is destroying traditional small farmer production of essential food crops in favor of monoculture crops and introduction of expensive chemical fertilizers and GMO seeds that are . Amazing, if truebut its extremely not. In reality, the idea that Bill Gates was single-handedly reinventing farming or designing cities of tomorrow was almost entirely speculation. However, the land held only amasses 1 percent of the total acres of farmland in the United States. Bill Gates, whose house in the Medina area of Seattle is pictured, has built up a diverse property portfolio over the years. When fully developed the area could be home to 200,000 residents and be similar in size to the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, The Land Report said. Kroenke is married to Ann Walkton Kroenke, an heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates finally revealed the reasons behind his massive purchase of farmland: seed science and biofuel development. In 2008, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $306 million in grants designed to boost the yields and incomes of millions of small farmers in Africa as well as "other parts of the . Bill Gates is one of the richest men in the world, but his wealth pales in comparison to that of other billionaires. More surprising, however, was the fact that Bill and Melinda Gates own more private farmland . What is the Venus-Jupiter conjunction and how can you view it? They give farmers more bargaining power and allows them to jointly fund communal assets, such as secure storehouses. owns the patent of the COVID-19 virus. ITS like having a new life, says Lucy Banda, a farmer in Mwambaso village in western Malawi. It is 30 kilometres from Mwambaso, the village where she lives to the nearest town, Mchingi. Last year, her maize output was eight cartloads, while the soybean harvest soared to 37 bags. The company is the largest producer of wool in Australia. Since 2017 he reportedly holds a significant stake in 24,800 acres of land on the west side of Phoenix. The program could be an economic boon for farmers. 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. FILE - Bill Gates attends a discussion during the 'Munich Security Conference' in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 18, 2022. In fact, in June of 2022 he secured an additional 2,100 acres of farmland in North Dakota for roughly $13.5 million. That proposed superhighway would run across a 5-mile stretch of the Belmont property. Artificial sweetener erythritol linked to heart attacks and strokes, Mediterranean diet may prevent cognitive issues for people with MS, Strange quantum event happens once every 10 billion chances, Aye-aye and possums top list of mammals we should focus on saving, Polar bears caught feeding on a whale carcass in breathtaking photos, The amazing ways electricity in your body shapes you and your health, How AI chatbots in search engines will completely change the internet, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, many African countries have been losing nutrients from their soils, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Gates owns over 242,000 . (Through a spokesperson, the company declined to comment for this article.). While private companies and corporations are increasing . He warned us about a pandemic, he dedicates . There isn't some grand scheme involved - in fact all these decisions are made by a professional investment team.". The tech mogul, who is the fourth richest person in the world with a . Between 2006 and 2015, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation allocated over $424 million to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). In a new report, GRAIN analyses all the food and agriculture grants the foundation has made up until 2020, and reveals that while the Foundation allegedly prioritises African farmers, the vast majority of its funding actually goes to groups in North America and Europe. Otherwise, Id have missed out on the information that has transformed my life, she says. After buying it for $2 million in 1988, Gates spent $63 million and seven years in building the 66,000 sq ft estate. It was the highest priced land sale in the US that year. Bill Gates does not own the majority of U.S. farmland. of the richest people in the country, owns less than one percent of the nations total farmland. In the future, farmers will be paid for sustainability, says Sherrick, who sits on the groups board. This process is made more efficient by inoculating the seeds with the bacteria. The farmland that Gates owns is located in 19 states. , said his investment group was behind the purchases, and suggested it was linked to seed and biofuel development. But, Gates may not be the largest private-farmland owner for much longer. Were connecting [smallholders] to the entire business chain, says Jama. THE FACTS: As Elon Musks bid to purchase Twitter has grabbed headlines in recent days, some prominent voices have taken to social media to claim that some other significant acquisitions by deep-pocketed individuals and corporations have largely flown under the radar. Our exposure to Invitation Homes is owning its stock in mutual funds we manage, not buying houses w/ them, BlackRock tweeted. Gates Biggest Owner of Farmland in US Now says: "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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Deploying high-yield . Total acreage for Bill Gates: Well over 270,000 acres. That makes Invitation Homes the largest operator of single-family rental homes in the country, but still represents a tiny fraction of all such homes. *According to figures compiled by The Land Report in 2019. For five generations, the Reed Family has owned and operated the logging company Green Diamond Resource Co. Weve never been one of the big institutional buyers of single family homes, BlackRock said in response to one tweet. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File ), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Though it's only a sliver of the nation's 900 million agricultural acres, Gates' trust gobbled up property in . The option does not identify how much land . The 65-year-old's largest holdings include 69,071 acres in Louisiana, 47,927 acres in Arkansas,25,750 acres in Arizona, 20,588 acres in Nebraska and16,097 in Washington state. However, while stunting has declined by more than a third in South Asia since 1990, in sub-Saharan Africa, the number of stunted children is still on the rise, up 12 million since 1990 to 56 million. In six years that number has more than doubled. Cascade employees almost never speak to the press. So AGRA is putting farmers in touch with everyone from financiers who offer microcredit to agents who buy produce for sale elsewhere. 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. "Bill Gates, co-founder of . Who knows. The couple also snapped up an oceanfront home in San Diego County, California, last year, for a record making $43 million. Three-quarters of them live in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. the Land Report published. As Slate financial writer Henry Grabar concluded, the proposed town of Belmont is not a city, nor is it smart, nor does the Microsoft founder appear to be involved in any meaningful way.. Gates is not new to the biofuel industry.In 2016, hejoined French oil giant Total in investing $14 million in biofuel specialist Renmatix. In April of this year, Reddit users had a chance to ask Gates this very question. Gates has been asked about his farmland purchases before. a Reddit user asked. Some experts have pointed to Gatess well-known sustainability and green tech initiatives as a possible reason, but during an earlier Reddit AMA in 2021, Gates said, my investment group chose to do this. A new report from AGRA says climate change could increase the number of malnourished people in sub-Saharan Africa from 223 million today to 355 million in 2050. And Eastern Washington has some of the richest, most expensive farmland in the country. James B. Meigs is the co-host of the How Do We Fix It? podcast and the former editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics. Michelle, has two of its largest vineyards in that AVA: Canoe Ridge Vineyard and Columbia Crest Vineyard. People are going to pay attention to what Bill is doing, Sherrick says. Through Sierra Pacific, the family owns some 2 million acres in California and Washington. He also bought farmland in Washington state in 2018, The farmland was bought by the couple, pictured at Lincoln Center in New York in 2017, mostly through their investment company, Cascade Investments, and is not connected to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which also works to help support farming. The booming population of Africa looms over his foundation's latest global survey. Adding to the confusion, Blackstone was once a major investor in BlackRock, but sold off its stake in the 1990s. 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. Instead, the LDS will add another 12,000 acres to its already massive land holdings, which include over 600,000 acres in Florida alone2 percent of that state's total land mass. . OKeefe knew Gates had been acquiring farmland for years, mostly through various Cascade subsidiaries. Bill Gates is working hard to prove he's a great guy. We've received your submission. In emails, BlackRock spokesman Christopher Beattie told The Associated Press that the firm primarily invests in retail, office buildings, hotels and apartment complexes, rather than single-family homes, but he declined to provide a breakdown. The region west of Phoenix is booming. 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). Sign up for notifications from Insider! There are more than 85 million single-family homes in the country, and only around 15 million of those are rentals, according to the latest American Housing Survey by the Census Bureau. Another is the possibility of cost competitive biofuels. The agriculture sector is important, he wrote. 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