The problem is that it is expensive to desalinate it and move it to where it is needed, Gates wrote. People that live in that area, people that live around the state know about the situation, Goehring said in response, Theyre probably more angry because, first of all, they dont want Bill Gates as a neighbor, but the land was sold for less than what it would have been auctioned.. Air Force, 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Bill and Melinda Gates gush over new grandbaby in separate photos, Bill Gates says AI-powered ChatGPT as important as PC, internet, mobile phones, BillGatesbuys nearly $1B Heineken stake despite not being a big beer drinker, Bill Gates daughter living in $51M NYC home as she welcomes first baby, $13.5 million investment in 2,100 sprawling acres. The most famous and by far wealthiest farmland owners in sparsely populated Concordia Parish are getting a divorce. 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 a U.S. Department of Agriculture report from February that showed there were more than 895 million total acres of farmland in the country last year. The Gates Foundation isnt the entity utilizing the land, but rather just Bills family office. But if it ever gets built, it would boost the value of Gates land dramatically. What Asset Class Is Farmland Considered To Be? Bill Gates is well-known for building Microsoft, but it's a lesser-known fact that he's also the biggest private landowner in the US. We've received your submission. Are you interested in investing in farmland? However, no one knows precisely when that will happen. When Ted Turner bought his Flying D Ranch in Montana in 1989, that was his personal passion, OKeefe says. Investors bought a record 18.4% of the homes purchased in the fourth quarter of 2021 three-quarters of which were single-family homes, according to real estate firm RedFin. A spokesman for Cascade Investment declined to comment on any of the details associated with these transactions or the Gateses holdings, other than to say that Cascade is very supportive of sustainable farming. However, Microsoft wasn't Bill Gates' only successful venture. Gate's acquisition of so much American farmland may aid in manifesting technological improvement endeavors. In January 2021, Bill Gates became the largest owner of farmland in the United States. However, the development and implementation of new technologies to withdraw fossil fuels hidden deep in the earth are currently financially impractical. In January 2021, Bill Gates became the largest owner of farmland in the United States. Thats exactly what I thought. 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. In his annual Reddit AMA Wednesday, Gates was asked why he has bought so much farmland. That makes him the largest landowner in the U.S. Stats show agriculture is a pretty good investment for. According to some scientific estimates, there may be only 1.7 trillion barrels of oil in the world today. And the rich are now buying up vast swathes of farmland. 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. And Eastern Washington has some of the richest, most expensive farmland in the country. In the Reddit AMA, he also said he'll sell what he owns as money goes towards the foundation. Is this simply a diversification of Gates' massive tech investment portfolio? Gates' achievement, according to the report, is that he's largest private owner of farmland in the US. Bill Gates land purchases look to me more like sensible long-term holds run by experienced asset managers.. And it tends to be negatively correlated against other investments, he adds: If the stock market is going down, the return on farmland is likely to be going up. The Best North Dakota Farmland to Invest in There are specific regions within North Dakota that are better suited for growing certain commodities. Larson also makes sure Gates keeps his eggs in a wide variety of baskets. Some of it goes to surrounding states, across the border, or it ends up someplace else. Gate's hefty investment in American farmland may also be tied to his interests in developing super-crops. In a 2020 blog post, he wrote, "The rich should pay more than they currently do, and that includes Melinda and me.". For example, seeds are being genetically designed to grow in near non-arable and hostile soil conditions.. And Gates says investing in more farmland in the future is not off the table. Senior Airman Dakota C. LeGrand/U.S. Although the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has no ties whatsoever to Cascade or its investments, it also has a farmland initiative: Gates Ag One, which has established its headquarters in the Greater St. Louis area. The agriculture sector is important. of the richest people in the country, owns less than one percent of the nations total farmland. There isn't some grand scheme involved - in fact all these decisions are made by a professional investment team.". In its review, the Midwest Center found that Baloo Enterprises LLC purchased: 1,926.3 acres of farmland in Douglas County for at least $19,694,096 between 2016 and 2019. With all of this recent farmland accumulation, one might think Gates is using this land to research these gene edited super seeds. In 2018, when 100 Circles sold, it was even better. The acreage sits off Interstate 10, and it is poised to be accessible by Interstate 11, a proposed highway that would traverse 5 miles of the 40-square-mile holding. His magazine, The Land Report, tracks major land transactions and produces an annual list of the 100 biggest US landowners. Interestingly enough, though the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working on this agriculture initiative. Farms also have a role in fighting climate change. People are going to pay attention to what Bill is doing, Sherrick says. I scanned the headline for the umpteenth time and then read and reread the pertinent details. Most likely, it is just one more asset in Gates vast portfolio, quietly appreciating in value while the billionaire himself remains at arms length. 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. Adding to the confusion, Blackstone was once a major investor in BlackRock, but sold off its stake in the 1990s. In addition, over 250,000 farms are so-called factory farms owned, rented, or co-opted by corporations. Here are the top farmlands in ND. Investing in farmland is not as volatile as investing in traditional stocks. One must be an optimist to be an American farmer. Along with his wife Melinda Gates, Bill owns over 268,000 acres of farmland diversified in over 19 states. Join the conversation now on LinkedIn or Twitter, or email me at [emailprotected], Foodtech exits continue to lag, but there is cause for optimism, Bell & Evans teams with Cargill, Rodale Institute to transition 50,000 farm acres to organic. The project isnt yet funded. We have lots of water. The Americas Editor at Agri Investor, Janiec reported that the assets had been offered as a single block and that Microsoft founder Bill Gates is thought to be the buyer of CPPIBs farmland. Janiec stayed on the story, and the following year, he confirmed the parameters of sale when he reported the addition of 61 properties valued at approximately $500 million to the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) U.S. What is certain is that Gates won't be the last private citizen to do so. Today, the Belmont tract remains mostly empty desert. Last year, Gates vowed to give away "virtually all" of his fortune to the philanthropic foundation he runs with French Gates. Gates was speaking to Redditors during an event marking the release of his new book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.. Yet farmland assets arent the sole component of the Gateses landholdings. Based in Toronto, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board began assembling an agricultural portfolio in 2013, when it acquired AgCoA, aka, Agricultural Company of America. That immediately set off alarm bells, OKeefe says. 2023 Meredith Corporation. He is also the fourth richest man on planet Earth with a net worth of $125 billion. While Microsoft took a major hit in the tech crash of 2000, Bill Gates portfolio with Cascade would gain around 40% return in that same year. All https://www.barchart.com/solutions/ is provided by Barchart Solutions. Gates personal farmland portfolio is managed by Michael Larson and Cascade Investment. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. The company also took to Twitter to reject the false narrative. For more information read our Risk Statement click here. He's the new MacDonald: Bill Gates owns hundreds of thousands of acres across the United States including 242,000 acres of farmland making him the country's top agricultural landholder,. With proper techniques, the carbon from decaying plant matter can be kept safely in the soil, rather than entering the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. Does the name Bernie Ebbers ring a bell? All Rights Reserved. And the most significant way that Gate's investments may affect farming is causing more people to see farmland as something to invest in rather than take farmland existence for granted. In an interviewwithMIT Technology Review last month, Gates argued that higher-income societies should completely replace their consumption of cattle-derived beef with synthetic alternatives. Apply to GLOCALs 2023 program to help advance Latin American agrifoodtech, What is the role of biotech in an ethical food system? You might remember an intriguing story from earlier this year, when an investigative journalist discovered that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had been quietly buying up so much farmland. Cascade Investment doubled down on Phoenix transitional land two years later when it made a second major investment by acquiring more than 2,800 acres known as Spurlock Ranch in Buckeye for $25 million. It's probably starting to make sense why Bill Gates purchased farmland in North Dakota and holds the largest private portfolio of farmland assets in America. a Reddit user asked. Dusky layers of silt and sand towered over the 6-foot-tall retired Washington State professor. Going forward, in line with the spirit of Leading Harvest, Cascade plans to continue to evaluate and implement new initiatives that will improve the overall sustainability of its farmland portfolio, the spokesperson revealed. Stay up to date with what you want to know. 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. (Although our researchers identified dozens of different entities that own the Gateses assets, Larson himself operates primarily through an entity called Cascade Investment LLC.). Lorsque vous utilisez nos sites et applications, nous utilisons des, authentifier les utilisateurs, appliquer des mesures de scurit, empcher les spams et les abus; et. Additionally, because the farmers don't have access to state-of-the-art agriculture tools or technology, they never maximize yield potential. However, they told The Land Report that Cascade is very supportive of sustainable farming.. In his Reddit AMA last year, one user said, "What do you plan to do with all the farmland you have purchased? Climate change, rising automation, the ravages of climate change, virulent plant diseases, international politics and changing consumer tastes make it progressively difficult for family-owned farms to operate. Jun 24, 2022, 8:13 AM PDT. Returns from farmland have actually outpaced the stock market in recent years with significantly less volatility. Gates is considered the largest individual private owner of farmland in the country with more than 280,000 acres across dozens of states, according to last years edition of the Land Report 100, an annual survey of the nations largest landowners. Merged from the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation quickly became the largest private foundation in history. Contact Contact Land Income today. This half-billion-dollar figure corroborated the AgCoA acquisition, and the paper trail led directly to Cascade Investment LLC. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Bill and Melinda Gates gush over new grandbaby in separate photos, Bill Gates says AI-powered ChatGPT as important as PC, internet, mobile phones, BillGatesbuys nearly $1B Heineken stake despite not being a big beer drinker, Bill Gates daughter living in $51M NYC home as she welcomes first baby, Gates longstanding interest in climate change. Biogas is a natural gas alternative that can be sourced from animal manure or algae., Future biofuel advancements could make farming more self-sustaining, environmentally friendly and more efficient.. Not surprisingly, one of Leading Harvests other inaugural members is a Cascade entity called Cottonwood Ag Management. What do you think it could mean for the future of farming and food production? And for those wondering why exactly Gates has taken a keen interest in investing in farmland across the country, look no farther than the profit margins. seed technologies, super-crops and overall farming efficiencies. But it also means we can devote less of the planets surface to farmland, which is good news for forests and ecosystems. Farmland investments overseen by Cascade are completely unrelated to the Foundations programs or efforts to advance agricultural development in Africa or anyplace else in the world.. To see all exchange delays and terms of use, please see https://www.barchart.com/solutions/terms. BlackRock is sometimes confused w/ Blackstone, which owned Invitation Homes. This is part of a broader 269,000-acre land portfolio belonging to the couple and associated entities across 19 US states, with the largest holdings in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres), and Arizona (25,750 acres). In 2020, Gates made headlines for becoming the largest private farmland owner in the U.S. Either that or I had a screw loose. A spokesperson for Cascade Investment a firm chaired and controlled by Bill Gates, and possibly what he was referring to as my investment group on Reddit declined to comment on specific land holdings at the time. What special interest does Bill Gates have in farmland? By Eric O'Keefe 1/15/2021 Listen to article Photo credit: Chesnot, Getty Images Call it a hunch, but the story did not jibe. The plant-based protein craze will be worth $23.4 billion by 2027. Almost 300,000 acres is a lot of land for one family or private individual to own, but it's still just a small part of the estimated 911 million acres of farmland in the US. Any why now after years of massive success? It was near-perfect timing too, as 2000 would quickly see the infamous tech crash of dot com stocks. Top 5 farms with the largest acreage in the U.S. How farmers can maximize the value of forestland, Northeastern Indiana farmland sells for $19,984 per acre. Strike two. Among the participants in the 13-member Sustainable Agriculture Working Group are Ceres Partners, Hancock Natural Resources Group, The Rohaytn Group, and UBS Farmland Investors. Bill Gates owns about 400 acres of farmland outside of Malmo, Nebraska, that he rents to a local farmer. Jeff Bezos is 25th and owns about 420,000 acres of farmland. AcreTrader has carved out a niche for themselves that has led to rapid market dominance. Meanwhile, American agriculture today is being transformed as farmers employ new technologies and Big Data to help them manage their crops. The landowners can include investors like Gates. His idea, like many others, was to diversify his investments across different asset classes. But the purchaser of record was a small, obscure company in Louisiana. Information is provided 'as is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice. Gates is considered the largest private owner of farmland in the country with some 269,000 acres (108,860 hectares) across dozens of states, according to last year's edition of the Land. Ninety-six percent of everything produced in North Dakota leaves our state, said Goehring. Only sovereign wealth funds and institutional investors can stroke a check for tracts in that league, which is exactly what occurred on the sell side of the 100 Circles transaction: The seller was John Hancock Life Insurance, a multibillion-dollar asset manager with key holdings in all the major U.S. markets as well as Canada and Australia. Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates responded to questions about his farmland investments during an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on social media platform Reddit this weekend. , said his investment group was behind the purchases, and suggested it was linked to seed and biofuel development. 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And the average size of a farm is about 444 acres., The typical family-owned farm makes about $69,000 in profits annually., However, due to climate change, international political tensions, tariff wars and changing consumer diets, family-run farms have struggled to profit. Newsweek called him a sustainable agriculture champion., Those stories dovetailed with earlier reports about Gates large land acquisitions in Arizona. Bill and Melinda Gates, who recently announced they're getting divorced and are dividing their assets, are deeply invested in American agriculture. Bill is now the biggest owner of farmland in 2022 a great hedge asset against rising inflation. Once upon a time, the business press dubbed the colorful entrepreneur the telecom cowboy. That was before the Edmonton native was put on trial for his role in what was, at the time, the largest corporate bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. We need a lot of technologies synthetic meat, energy storage, new ways of making building materials, he wrote. Why is Bill Gates investing heavily in farmland? Their low fees and competitive returns set them apart from many of the other platforms out there. Gates is just using farmland to make Agri-Tech and financial investments. The world is running out of oil. Climate change, inefficient farming practices, inclement weather, and plant disease are just a few of the reasons why farms sometimes fail to maximize their true seed yield potential. than 85 million single-family homes in the country, and only around 15 million of those are rentals, Of those rentals, less than a third are owned by non-individual investors, according to. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, profits in the farming sector have increased by $23.9 billion in 2021. Due climate change, dry seasons will be drier, and wet seasons will be more intense, and bring more flooding.