It can be used for residential development, commercial projects, industrial zoning, public or semi-public use, agriculture, or right of way (a way for others to access a different piece of land or portion of the land). Malone's 2.2 million acres are largely located in Maine, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming and include profitable cattle ranches. Last year, Bill and Melinda purchased a sprawling beachfront 6-bedroom, 4-bath home in Del Mar, Californiaoutside of San Diegofor $43 million. Weve answered hundreds of questions from people regarding the buying and use of land. The acquisitions are held directly, as well as through Gates' personal investment entity, Cascade Investments. Why aren't they giving more? What Is The Banking Process To Buy Raw Land, Price Of Agricultural Land In The Philippines. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Ukrainian soldier takes out five tanks with Javelin missiles, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Hershey's Canada releases HER for SHE bars featuring a trans activist, Moment teenager crashes into back of lorry after 100mph police race. Bill Gates has secured legal approval for his North Dakota farmland purchase But the deal drew scrutiny under a 1932 anti-corporate farm ownership law Now state AG says the deal is legal, because . The Microsoft co-founder has reportedly purchased an $8.9 million Wyoming ranch that was once the stomping grounds of Buffalo Bill . While those companies dont explicitly name Cascade Investments as the owner in their public records, they do share the address of Cascade in Kirkland, Washington, or the address of a Cascade subsidiary, list the names of Cascade employees who registered the companies and sometimes even email addresses from the Bill and Melinda Gates Investment Group. That doesnt mean that every piece of land is a good investment, but a significant amount of land will offer a high return on investment. However, his largest land holdings are in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres), Nebraska (20,588 acres . Single-family homes are priced between $5-25 million. But they're just renting it. Bill Gates' $13.5 million investment in 2,100 sprawling acres of North Dakota land has raised questions as the purchase coincided with a controversial Chinese company buying 370 acres of. In fact it is so big that it is a little hard to conceptualize. Thats where the Gateses began buying land in 2013 through two limited liability corporations registered to an address in Kirkland by Derek Yurosek, then head of agriculture operations for Cascade. Tuesday, the office of the Attorney General sent out a letter asking the Red River Trust to confirm how the company plans to use the land . Another 5,500 acres was sold to Generation Land Georgia, a company that shares an address with Miami-based Optimum Agriculture, which bought Generations Farms in 2019. You can read more about us, here. They said farmland has been a popular investment for a long time because of its stability. But Zehren of Cascade noted that the firm has been working in Florida and elsewhere to promote ecologically conscious agriculture and that it plans to continue to evaluate its farmland portfolio to improve its overall sustainability. Here is an overview of all of the property the couple owned together at the time of their divorce: Bill and Melinda dont publicly discuss this topic often, but they are the top owners of farmland in the U.S. With some 242,000 acres, the estimated value of their farmland is in the billions. BlackRock also suggested it was being confused for the similarly-named investment management firm Blackstone, which until recently owned Invitation Homes. Bill Gates has secured legal approval for the controversial purchase of thousands of acres of prime North Dakota farmland, after the deal drew fury from the state's residents. These billionaires have nothing to offer us in terms of saving the planet unless its our land back. My investment group chose to do this, Bill Gates said on Reddit in March when asked about his farmland purchases while promoting his latest book, How to Avoid A Climate Disaster. It is not connected to climate. He did acknowledge that more productive farming techniques can help reduce deforestation in other parts of the world. (AP Photo/Michael Probst, File ), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. In total he owns 268,984 acres of land of all types in 19 states, including a suburb up for development - as a so-called 'smart city' - outside Phoenix, Arizona. He backed Impossible Foods, which relies on genetically modified soybeans, and also held shares of Beyond Meat through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, though SEC filings show those shares were sold in 2019. According to the Land Report 100 Research Team, that figure is currently more than twice that amount, which means Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, has an alter ego: Farmer Bill, the guy who owns more farmland than anyone else in America. The area off Interstate 10, called Belmont, has space for 80,000 homes as well as more than 4,000 acres for schools, offices, and stores; and 3,400 acres of open space. While he owns a significant amount, it is a relatively small slice of the nations nearly 900 million total farm acres. Land will likely never be a bad investment, as long as the land is healthy and properly located. One per cent of the worlds farms control 70% of the worlds farmlands, one report found. The trend worries young farmers who cannot compete with the likes of Bill Gates when buying land, according to Holly Rippon-Butler, a farmer in upstate New York and the land campaigns director at the National Young Farmers Coalition. That's one of the many takeaways from the 2021 Land Report 100, which is compiled each year by Land Report magazine. 4 Now Bill Gates appears to have acquired a slice of their tiny city, and locals near. . That was a virus I got from Ted Turner.. In fact, he owns some of the land that produces potatoes used to make McDondalds french fries. Listen to article. This means that there is not much to maintain on it unless you want to add your own buildings or other property. For Indigenous caretakers, land use isnt premised on a return of investments; its about maintaining the land for the next generation, meeting the needs of the present, and a respect for the diversity of life. There farmers primarily grow soybeans, rice, corn and cotton. Bill and Melinda have diversified their portfolioworth more than $130 billionfor years, and one of their favorite investments is real estate. buying an increasing share of the U.S. housing market. It makes no sense.. He owns 242,000 acres, which is equivalent to the area of Fannin County GA. the latest American Housing Survey by the Census Bureau. Apparently Bill Gates now owns almost 242,000 acres of land in the United States. Bill Gates uses farmland as investment vehicle, owning 269,000 acres of land. There . Learn more about fact-checking at AP. The report on US Land Ownership ("Land Ownership Report" / 1-21-22) indicates that Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and holder of 45% of its shares, is the main owner of North American land, owner of an area of more than 250,000 acres (101,171.4 hectares) deployed throughout the immense US territory, the fourth in the world in order of . The map shows a 242,000 acre square situated over New York. The 14,000 acres in Washington is used for potatoes and in Florida the land is used for carrots. You can also look at local resources in your area to see where land is being bought or sold. BlackRock is sometimes confused w/ Blackstone, which owned Invitation Homes. 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. This could allow you to sell or lease the individual lots of land on the property. When Bill Gates, or whatever other investment arm owns the land, a farmer still needs to farm it. The 14,000 acres in Washington is used for potatoes and in Florida the land is used for carrots. A survey of the Gateses farmland holdings shows that a broad range of the vegetables that Americans eat can be traced back to his land and that some of this land has also been owned by other billionaires. Land can produce food, fuel, and manufacturing materials as well as provide environmental services, residential spaces, and more. Bill and Melindas main residenceand by far their most impressive homeis a massive compound in Medina, Washington nicknamed 'Xanadu 2.0' in a reference to Citizen Kane. Bill Gates top private farmland owner in US. While Gates is Americas biggest farmland owner, hes far from being the nations largest landowner in general. Bill Gates acquired six parcels of land in Pembina County. We loved familys outdoor adventures so much we started a land business just to help others buy their own land. There, on Gates parcels, an industrial farm grows potatoes for McDonalds french fries. Renewable energy company Savion has an option to buy the property for what . Lemmon Holdings, the billionaire spent $80 million to purchase. That makes Invitation Homes the, largest operator of single-family rental homes in the country, but still represents, BlackRock also suggested it was being confused for the similarly-named i. nvestment management firm Blackstone, which until recently owned Invitation Homes. Agriculture is also a key focus area for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the massive charity run by Gates and his wife. (Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times via AP file), The buildings of the 100 Circles Farm are at the center of this satellite image. Public records suggest Cascade Investments has bought its farmland through a web of at least 22 limited liability shell companies across the country. Through our professional experience in land acquisition, we have found that people buy and sell land for many different reasons and have learned that it can be an investment for profit, vacation, or any opportunity that suits your needs and desires. Ownership of Angelina Plantation Farms, which sits among three wildlife areas in Monterey with a view of Bayou Cocodrie, and other property has been a . Someone else is building that equity on their back, said Johnathan Hladik, the policy director at the Center for Rural Affairs, who is also a farmer in Nebraska. Members of the Stanley family now work for Generations. The largest. As more and more land gets developed, if you own land that is in the path of the plan, you could have buyers offering you big money to take hold of the property. Can you imagine having that much property? Gates' achievement, according to the report, is that he's largest private owner of farmland in the US. Lets take a look at some of the reasons that land, particularly raw land, can be a good investment for Bill Gates or anybody else, including you. You can email us at contact@askbamland.com. Can You Build A Wedding Venue On Residential Land? The land that Bill Gates owns is used to grow soybeans, corn, cotton, and rice over 70,000 acres in northern Louisiana. The value depends on a lot of factors including location, type of land, acreage, supply, demand, and more. He also purchased the 800-acre Bridlewood Farms in Florida. This means that you can find good deals that may be just the thing you are looking for. The Microsoft co-founder faced several claims that he owned a majority of America's farmland earlier this year. This is part of APs effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Dailymail.com Reporter, Meet John Malone of Liberty Global the Darth Vader of Wall Street and the man who wants a slice of Formula One, Bill Gates is accused of hypocrisy after joining bidding war to buy the world's largest private jet operator - one month before he releases his book preaching about climate change, Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Mom who lost both sons to fentanyl blasts laughing Biden, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' Since 2017 he reportedly holds a significant stake in 24,800 acres of land on the west side of Phoenix. Bill Gates may be trading his pocket protector for cowboy boots. But, As of February 2021, Gates has made headlines across the wor. Bill Gates was also an early investor in fake-meat companies aiming to combat the environmental harms of raising livestock by creating more convincing, plant-based alternatives. (Google Maps), Image: The building housing the offices of Cascade Investment in Kirkland, Wash., on May 22, 2021. In Washington, the Gateses own more than 14,000 acres of farmland that includes potato fields so massive that they are visible from space and some of which are processed into french fries for McDonalds. These land holdings are separate from their previous investments in companies that support large-scale farming like Monsanto and the tractor manufacturer John Deere. Through Sierra Pacific, the family owns some 2 million acres in California and Washington. Land holds ample opportunities for growth and development, yet you may find that there is more land than there is competition. What expertise in climate science or agriculture Gates possesses beyond being filthy rich is anyones guess. Gates . Published: 18:36 ET, Dec 8 2022 Updated: 10:03 ET, Dec 9 2022 A MAP has revealed which billionaire owns the largest amount of land in the US - you'll be shocked to know that it isn't Bill Gates. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions.. You may also be interested in why a billionaire wants land. Many people wonder why Bill Gates would make these moves with his investment portfolio. , an annual survey of the nations largest landowners. In May, Bill Gates also transferred about $850 million in shares of the agricultural machinery company John Deere to his wife after the two shared publicly their plans to divorce. Hes the landlord, or rather, the companies owned by his investment firm are the landlords. Additionally, through his personal investment firm, Cascade, Bill Gates owns approximately half of the Four Season Holdings' hotel chain. Black, Mexican, Asian, and Native people, of course, were categorically excluded from the benefits of a federal program that subsidized and protected generations of white wealth. While land is a limited resource, there is still less competition for raw land than there is with residential and commercial real estate. Although the sale price has never been made public, the 492-acre home was listed for $8.9 millionand we cant imagine Bill and Melinda doing much haggling. Buffalo Bill Cody's Ranch in Cody, Wyoming: Undisclosed Sale Price (Listed for $8.9 Million). Bill Gates is the largest private owner of American farmland, which is why so many people are wondering what he will use it for. CNN founder Ted Turner owns 2 million acres of land largely in New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Georgia. Bill and Melindas main residenceand by far their most impressive homeis a massive compound in Medina, Washington nicknamed 'Xanadu 2.0' in a reference to, Undisclosed Sale Price (Listed for $8.9 Million). (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times) (Ruth Fremson / The New York Times via Redux Pictures), John Quarterman on his farm in Lowndes County, Ga. (Matt Odom / for NBC News), John Quarterman stands by the Withlacoochee River.