In addition to the world’s fourth richest man, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently added a new title – the largest farmer in the United States.
According to Forbes, Bill Gates has purchased up to 242,000 acres of farmland across the United States, making him the largest private farmer in the United States.
The Land Report, a quarterly magazine focusing on land investment, reports that Bill Gates, who is currently worth nearly $121 billion, has established his own huge land portfolio in 18 states.
The state with the largest number of farms owned by Bill Gates is Louisiana with 69,071 acres, followed by Arkansas with 47,927 acres, and third with Nebraska with 20,588 acres.
In addition, Bill Gates also owns a stake in the western part of Phoenix, Arizona, on 25,750 acres of transitional land, which is being developed into a new suburb.
According to Land Report research, Bill Gates directly or indirectly owns the above land through his private investment company, Cascade Investments.
Cascade’s other investments include food safety company Ecolab, used car retailer Vroom and Canadian National Railways.
It may be surprising news that a billionaire who started in the high-tech industry has become the largest farmer in the United States, but in fact Bill Gates has been involved in agriculture since many years ago.
In 2008, Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates’ foundation announced an allocation of $306 million to promote high-yielding and sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
The foundation has also further invested in and cultivated “super crops” and high-yielding cows that can resist climate change. Just in 2020, the foundation announced the establishment of Gates Ag One, a non-profit organization, to continue to promote efforts in this regard.
Forbes pointed out that it is not clear what Bill Gates plans to use such a large amount of farmland, and whether this part of the land will be used as a protected land.
But there are signs that the land may be used in a manner consistent with Gates Foundation values. After all, Cottonwood Ag Management, a subsidiary of Cascade, is a member of the non-profit organization Leading Harvest. After Advocate sustainable agricultural standards and give priority to the protection of crops, soil and water resources.
It is also worth mentioning that Bill Gates is not the only billionaire on the Land Report list who owns private farmland.
Wonderful Company co-founders Stewart and Linda Resnick are also on the list, and the two own 190,000 acres of land with $7.1 billion, ranking third on the list.
However, the farmland it owns mainly produces goods for their brands, including POM Wonderful, Wonderful Pistachios and Wonderful Halos mandarins.
It should be noted that although Gates may be the largest farmer in the United States, he is by no means the largest individual landowner.
In Land Report’s list of 100 U.S. landowners, John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media, has 2.2 million acres of pasture and woodland. CNN founder Ted Turner is third, with 2 million acres of ranching across eight states.
Even Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, is investing in land on a large scale, with 420,000 acres, mainly in West Texas, ranking 25th on the list.
Bill Gates has invested in farmland and has become the “largest landlord” in the United States.
According to the website of Forbes magazine on the 14th, Bill Gates, the world’s fourth richest man and self-proclaimed “nerd”, has been quietly buying farmland across the United States, with a total area of 242,000 acres so far, enough to make him the largest in the United States. Private farmland owner.
For years, there have been reports that Gates has purchased farmland in Florida and Washington. Gates, with a net worth of nearly $121 billion (according to Forbes), has established a large farmland portfolio in 18 states, the U.S. real estate journal Land Report revealed.
Gates has the largest land area under the name of the United States in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Nebraska (20,588 acres).
In addition, he owns a stake in 25,750 acres of transitional land west of Phoenix, Arizona, which is being developed into a suburban residential area.
