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. Some are near cities and might end up having other uses.". Investors bought a record 18.4% of the homes purchased in the fourth quarter of 2021 three-quarters of which were single-family homes. One other use for the farmland Gates has acquired is to grow crops for biofuels. You cant just say, Ive got $30,000 saved up and I want to buy some farmland, Sherrick notes. The 65-year-old's holdings include 16,097 acres in Washington, 20,588 in Nebraska, 25,750 in Arizona . Im hoping to lay a concrete floor soon, she says. BlackRock is sometimes confused w/ Blackstone, which owned Invitation Homes. 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. However, the land held only amasses 1 percent of the total acres of farmland in the United States. Making farming a business is the way to push African agriculture, says Robert Guei of the FAO in Rome, Italy. Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., Waste Management, Inc., Canadian National Railway Company, Caterpillar Inc., Walmart Inc., Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts & more are the companies owned by Bill Gates. The Land Report magazine 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. Without innovation, we will not solve climate change, Gates said. So far, only eight of 54 countries have done so.. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. Why is Bill Gates buying up farmland across America? bill gates, BioFuel, biofuels, carbon dioxide, carbon emissions, clean technologies, climate change, Coronavirus pandemic, crops, decarbonized power transmission, desalinate, Energy Storage, environ, farmland, fossil fuels, genetic lunacy, GMOs, greenhouse gas emissions, harvest, plant-based protein, solar energy, synthetic meat, zero-carbon cement. Getty Images for TIME In 2008 it launched a programme called Purchase for Progress (P4P) that targets smallholder suppliers, including those in 15 African countries. The new green economy will mean new opportunities for land owners, OKeefe believes. 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). He assigned his research team to dig a little deeper. Through Sierra Pacific, the family owns some 2 million acres in California and Washington. Adding to the confusion, Blackstone was once a major investor in BlackRock, but sold off its stake in the 1990s. John Malone is the largest private landowner in the United States. Dr. Alan Busacca, professor emeritus at Washington State University, told Land Report at the time that the fertile land in the area was used for growing 'apples, cherries, carrots, dryland and irrigated wheat, and row and field crops'. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. BlackRock also does not own the majority of the countrys 80 million single-family homes. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. by Harvard Universitys Joint Center for Housing Studies. Bill Gates helped usher in the digital revolution at Microsoft, and has spent the decades since exploring - and investing in - innovative solutions to some of the world's toughest problems . Learn more about fact-checking at AP. CNN founder Ted Turner owns 2 million acres of land largely in New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Georgia. In fact, in June of 2022 he secured an additional 2,100 acres of farmland in North Dakota for roughly $13.5 million. "Why are you buying up so much farmland, do you think this is a problem with billionaire wealth and how much you can disproportionally acquire?" 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. Bill Gates, whose house in the Medina area of Seattle is pictured, has built up a diverse property portfolio over the years. Now, its latest report says the scheme is achieving its aims. . Kids in England had to wear masks at school because No10 'didn't want an argument' with Nicola Sturgeon - Health ministers knew there was no evidence to justify making kids abide by rule of 6 - but No10 'didn't Sunak bustled like a wide-eyed labrador, his tail waggier than a windscreen wiper in a downpour: HENRY Bill Gates: America's Top Farmland Owner | The Land Report, Do not sell or share my personal information. 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. African smallholders are often isolated, unable to get credit or find buyers for their produce. Microsoft founder and billionaire turned philanthropist Bill Gates recently laid to rest the long-time conspiracy theory that he owns some 80% of all U.S. farmland in his 11th appearance in an . The company also took to Twitter to reject the false narrative. According to the Journal, they are even discouraged from using Facebook and other social-media platforms. The first necessity is fertiliser. But many farmers lease at least some of the land they cultivate. 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. The title for largest landholdings overall goes to US businessman John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media, who owns 2.2million acres. Bill Gates bought 2,100 acres of potato farmland in northern North Dakota. Amazing, if truebut its extremely not. 5. The massive land grab by Gates last year gave the tech magnate his first appearance on The Land Report, a magazine that "provides news, information, and . The Gates' portfolio of farmland covers 18 states. In 2006, African governments pledged to inject 10 per cent of their spending into agriculture, says Ameyaw. Of those rentals, less than a third are owned by non-individual investors, according to a 2022 report by Harvard Universitys Joint Center for Housing Studies. 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. . The Emmerson family owns and operates Sierra Pacific Industries, a company that logs usable lumber after forest fires and sells it to lumber retailers. Social media users are falsely claiming that Gates owns the majority of U.S. farmland. Large investors usually work with expert advisors to help them acquire and manage their agricultural holdings. The arrangement is simple, The Wall Street Journal wrote in a 2014 profile. Pour en savoir plus sur notre utilisation de vos informations, veuillez consulter notre Politique relative la vie prive et notre Politique en matire de cookies. Though it's only a sliver of the nation's 900 million agricultural acres, Gates' trust gobbled up property in . By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Kroenke is married to Ann Walkton Kroenke, an heiress to the Wal-Mart fortune. The last one in this top 5 of the largest landowners is once again a large Australian farmer. 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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. An entity with ties to billionaire Bill Gates bought 2,100 acres of potato farmland in northern North Dakota prompting the states top prosecutor to intervene after complaints from local residents. This article appeared in print under the headline Bringing Africas farms back to life, Explore the latest news, articles and features, Island-hopping cougars swim kilometres through icy water off US coast, This new version of quantum theory is even stranger than the original. Bill Gates land purchases look to me more like sensible long-term holds run by experienced asset managers.. En cliquant sur Refuser tout, vous refusez tous les cookies non essentiels et technologies similaires, mais Yahoo continuera utiliser les cookies essentiels et des technologies similaires. 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. In 2019, it was reported that Impossible Burger was facing a shortage of soy because it relied on farms that didnt use genetically modified seeds. People involved in the Gates financial empire stress that the familys philanthropic endeavors are kept separate from their investments and business ventures. We invest in the farms to raise productivity. Sales of more than a thousand acres are blue-moon events, OKeefe noted, so this one stood out. That removes a major way for actual farm operators to . She then joined the AGRA programme (see main story), who put her forward as a model participant. Farmers groups, agriculture ministers, scientists and financiers met this week at the African Green Revolution Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He said he did so to make the farms "more productive" and "create more jobs," adding that it was his investment team that made the decision. 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. Follow Technocrats.newsfor more news and information related to Bill Gates and other big tech personalities. In the future, farmers will be paid for sustainability, says Sherrick, who sits on the groups board. Gates is not new to the biofuel industry.In 2016, hejoined French oil giant Total in investing $14 million in biofuel specialist Renmatix. As of 2019, around 40 percent of American farmland is rented to tenants, who then operate on it. BlackRock also suggested it was being confused for the similarly-named investment management firm Blackstone, which until recently owned Invitation Homes. Bill Gates has started laying out his plans for creating a smart city in Phoenix, Arizona, science-news outlet Futurism wrote. To effectively address climate change, we need to develop an energy infrastructure that doesnt emit greenhouse gas and is cost competitive. That can mean better yields with decreased use of fertilizers and pesticides. Deploying high-yield . Our exposure to Invitation Homes is owning its stock in mutual funds we manage, not buying houses w/ them, BlackRock tweeted. The moguls holdings include large tracts in Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, California, and about a dozen other states. In a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) last week, Gates once again fielded a question pertaining to his AG holdings and stated that he actually only owns 1/4000 of all U.S. farmland, or about 270,000 acres spread across 18 different states. Her new house is made of brick and has a tin roof and two bedrooms. Bill Gates is working hard to prove he's a great guy. 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