Alongside his investments, Gates has also purchased farmland in at least 19 states, according to The Land Report. Stay up to date with what you want to know. (AP). Bill Gates and conspiracy theories go together like peanut butter and jelly. He created the pledge in 2010 with his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, and his close friend and Berkshire Hathaway CEO, Warren Buffett. While private companies and corporations are increasing their ownership of U.S. homes, BlackRock, through its investments, does not own a majority of single-family homes. These subsistence farmers can order equipment and seeds they need, paying what they can over a longer period of time. It's not part of his plans to save the planet. One such rumor claimed that there had been an unusual number of fires at food processing facilities in 2022. I had heard this in the past, but didn't give it much thought. Hint, It's Not Bill Gates, Bezos-Backed Startup Lets You Become A Landlord With $100, Try the tool that will help you invest smarter, faster, and better, Bill Gates Finally Explains Why He's Buying So Much U.S. According to lovemoney.com, the church owns more than 70 million hectares. As more investors look to buy land, those who got in earlier are poised to benefit from the appreciation of the land value. Invitation Homes, for example, has approximately 80,000 homes for lease across the country and is the largest landlord for single-family homes in the United States (here) (here). By Jenna Hoffman July 5, 2022. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here . These states include: Arizona - 25,750 acres; Arkansas - 47,927 acres . What is the most profitable crop in Michigan? Social media posts blame Gates investments in plant-based meat alternatives and his status as the nations largest private farmland owner for triggering the countrys current chicken and egg shortages. Gates also owned up to the various failures in their initiatives, and admitted that they try their best to leverage the expertise and wisdom from the community leaders present in the areas they aid. According to the Tri-City Herald, a 14,500-acre swath of choice eastern Washington farmland in the Horse Heaven Hills of Benton County had just traded hands for almost $171 million. Should we be worried about a tech giant like Bill Gates amassing this wild amount of land? Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. How Old Do I Have To Be To Go To A Strip Club In Michigan? In their Big Bet, they recognize that the impoverished people stand to be impacted the most by these changes. The controversy over Bill Gates becoming the largest private farmland owner in the US People are drawing connections between Gates's vast farmlands and climate change advocacy. To better understand these questions, it's helpful to review Bill Gates' financial decision through the years, especially as it relates to Microsoft, Cascade Investments, and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In their 2018 annual letter, the Gates Foundation answers the top ten questions they received, and they admitted that they didnt think it was fair that their family had so much global influence. While private companies and corporations are increasing . This, combined with holiday demand and continued coronavirus pandemic-related supply-chain pressures, have affected the market. This is because of more intense seasons of drought and rain. Weyerhaeuser purchase Plum Creek in 2015 for over $8 Billion! How much land does Russia own in the United States? Thetech billionaire owns69,071 acres inLouisiana,47,927 acres inArkansas, and 20,588 acres inNebraska. Representatives for Gates did not immediately respond to messages from Insider requesting comment. Theres a lot of little benefits that stack up when talking about farmland, but the biggest is likely the fact that farmland returns historically out performs most other investment vehicles, and is also comparatively the least volatile asset among the bunch. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. stated on February 26, 2023 a video on Facebook: stated on February 15, 2023 a photo on Facebook: stated on January 29, 2023 a video on Facebook: stated on February 5, 2023 an Instagram post: stated on January 27, 2023 a video on Facebook: stated on January 22, 2023 an Instagram post: stated on January 16, 2023 a photo on Facebook: stated on January 12, 2023 a photo on Facebook: stated on November 6, 2022 an Instagram post: stated on October 26, 2022 a post on Instagram: stated on October 12, 2022 an Instagram post: stated on October 9, 2022 a Facebook post: stated on March 3, 2023 in a Conservative Political Action Conference speech: stated on February 19, 2023 in a Facebook post: stated on February 24, 2023 in an Instagram post: stated on March 2, 2023 in a speech at CPAC: stated on February 25, 2023 in a Facebook post: stated on February 22, 2023 in a Facebook post: stated on February 26, 2023 in an Instagram post: stated on February 27, 2023 in a Facebook post: All Rights Reserved Poynter Institute 2020, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. . False. In reality, the number of fires was not extraordinary, the causes of the fires were not unusual, and the damage caused by the fires was minimal. Who owns the most farmland in the world? North Dakotans are outraged as Bill Gates, the largest private farmland owner in the US, apparently buys a $13.5 million potato farm Dominick Reuter Jun 24, 2022, 8:13 AM Leon Neal/Getty. No one but Bill Gates knows that answer. 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, according to Eric O'Keefe's The Land Report. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. "I've gotten a big earful on this from clear across the state, it's not even from that neighborhood," Doug Goehring, the state's agricultural commissioner, told a local NBC affiliate this week. In addition, the law places certain limitations on the ability of trusts to own farmland or ranchland, the letter said. Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. At about $6,000 per acre, the potato farm cost roughly half of what Gates reportedly spent on highly coveted soil closer to his home in Washington. While Gates has spent billions investing in agricultural properties to make them more productive, a growing number of retail investors are getting a piece of the real estate market with as little as $100 through companies backed by high-profile investors like Jeff Bezos. In addition, he owns 25,750 acres of transitional land and 1,234 acres of recreational land for total land holdings of 268,984 acres. Social media post scrambles the facts on high egg prices, Gateway Pundit, "Bill Gates Invested In Artificial Eggs a Decade Before Egg Shortage," Jan. 24, 2023, PolitiFact, "What Bill Gates has to do with livestock, lab-grown meat," May 18, 2020, PolitiFact, "Eggflation? Gates personal farmland portfolio is managed by Michael Larson and Cascade Investment. Why did he decide to buy in Amish Country? . Those people are upset, but there are others that are just livid about this.. In the wake of this uncertainty, unfounded rumors began to spread that attempted to lay the blame for any coming food shortages on nefarious forces. Bill Gates owns a minimum of 242,000 acres of U.S. farmland in Washington, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, California and multiple other states. Where farmland differs from other alt assets is that because its such a crucial human resource (food = humans), in less-than-desirable economic situations, farmland tends to appreciate even further in value, as opposed to losing value (I.E., during a dreaded stock market crash). What Bill Gates has to do with livestock, lab-grown meat, Eggflation? Since its IPO in 1985, Microsoft has seen continual success. Plum Creek, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is the largest private landowner in Michigan after purchasing 650,000 acres in 2005. In his annual Reddit Ask Me Anything session on Wednesday, Gates was asked why he has made all of his farmland purchases. 3. 2022. Bill Gates owns more private farmland in the US than anyone else, an analysis by The Land Report found. He also reportedly owns about 16,000. In January 2021, Bill Gates became the largest owner of farmland in the United States. As of 2022, he owned 248,000 acres of farmland across more than a dozen states, but this accounts for less than 1% of the total farmland in the U.S. Gates also owns land in Arizona (25,750 acres), Illinois (17,940),Mississippi (16,963),Washington (16,097), Florida (14,828), Idaho (9,233), Indiana (9,136), Ohio (8,915), California (4,509), Colorado (2,270), Michigan (2,167), Wisconsin (1,188), Wyoming (975), North Carolina (874), Iowa (552), and New Mexico (1). It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions. The mogul's holdings include large tracts in Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, California, and about a dozen other states. In 2016, he wrote on his blog about the benefits of raising chickens, particularly for people living in poverty. A $13.5 million purchase of a North Dakota potato farm is drawing outrage and legal scrutiny. Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. Breitbart News reporter Alana Mastrangelo wrote: Gates is now Americas largest private farmland owner, with hundreds of thousands of acres spanning across 19 U.S. states, according tothe Land Report. Billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates has found himself at the center of yet another online conspiracy theory. NOW WATCH: Bill Gates has a net worth of over $96 billion here's how he makes and spends his money. Gates is just using farmland to make Agri-Tech and financial investments. Amazing, if truebut its extremely not. Why am I just learning about this NOW?. as well as other partner offers and accept our. These allow investors to get stared with as little as $10,000. In Washington, the duo owns more than 14,000 acres of farmland that includes potato . Bill Gates Uses Farmland as Investment Vehicle, Owning 269,000 Acres of Land. NBC News, https://www.nbcnews.com/now/video/bill-gates-is-nation-s-largest-farmland-owner-114566213692. Gates does not own the majority of U.S. farmland. I have invested in these farms to make them more productive and create more jobs. On social media, we found people claiming, for example, that Gates owns the "majority" of U.S. farmland -- 80%, they claimed -- and that Gates is trying to buy up "all" of the farmland. As unfounded rumors related to the cause of a yet-to-happen food crisis circulated online, many people started to point fingers at a favorite target of conspiracy theorists, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. While BlackRock does not directly own single-family houses, as the worlds largest asset manager (here), it owns stock in companies that do. Gates appears to be pro-chicken farming. There were 895.3. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos . Social media post scrambles the facts on high egg prices," Jan. 13, 2023, Various searches on Google and Nexis, accessed Jan. 24, 2023, The Land Report, "Farmer Bill," Jan. 11, 2021, The Land Report, "Bill Gates is About to Change the Way America Farms," Winter 2020 magazine issue, The Land Report 100, Winter 2021 magazine issue, The Land Report 100, Winter 2022 magazine issue, Email exchange, Eric OKeefe, editor, The Land Report, Jan. 23, 2023, Email exchange, Gates Ventures, Jan. 24, 2023, GatesNotes, "Future of food," March 18, 2013, GatesNotes, "What the plow and lab-grown meat tell us about innovation," Feb. 27, 2019, GatesNotes, "Is there enough meat for everyone?," April 21, 2015, GatesNotes, "Why I would raise chickens," June 7, 2016, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Consumer Price Index," Jan. 12, 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture, "Avian influenza outbreaks reduced egg production, driving prices to record highs in 2022," Jan. 11, 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture, "2022-2023 Confirmations of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Commercial and Backyard Flocks," Jan. 18, 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture, "Avian Influenza," Jan. 18, 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture, "Farms and Land in Farms, 2021 Summary," February 2022, Reddit, Bill Gates Ask Me Anything, March 19, 2021, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "Agricultural Development," accessed Jan. 24, 2023, Associated Press, "Bill Gates owns a lot of American farmland, but not the majority," May 2, 2022, Vox, "The controversy over Bill Gates becoming the largest private farmland owner in the US," June 11, 2021, NBC News, "McDonald's french fries, carrots, onions: all of the foods that come from Bill Gates farmland," June 8, 2021, Reuters, "Fact Check-Bill Gates doesnt own most U.S. farmland; BlackRock doesnt own most houses," May 5, 2022, CNBC, "Bill Gates and Richard Branson are betting lab-grown meat might be the food of the future," March 23, 2018, CNBC, "Bill Gates bets on growing demand for sustainable foods," May 14, 2015, Bloomberg News, "Lab-Grown Meat Backed by Gates, Tyson Foods Faces U.S. It reported that as of 2022, Gates owned about 248,000 acres of farmland. State law prohibits corporations, LLCs, and trusts from farming or ranching activities. 309. FPI is internally managed and the company owns farms in 16 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi,. Today, Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland in 19 states. Bill Gates just bought 2,100 acres of farmland in North Dakota, adding to the 270,000 acres he inexplicably owns throughout the US China also just bought 300 acres there, adding to the 192,000 . The Gates Foundation has seen steady success and growth since their launch, funding science, research, agriculture and education. So while Dan Gilbert owns the most property downtown, his 30-odd buildings seem small compared to what Kelly, Tatarian, Moroun, and others own. 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. We invest in the farms to raise productivity. 801 3rd St. S While Gates is still the top farmland owner in the U.S., not all of the property he owns is farmland. Oftentimes, those fingers get pointed at Gates. Gates and his wife own 269,000 acres of farmland. Some are near cities and might end up having other uses.". Heres why.," Jan. 10, 2023. The mainland Chinese company Sino-Michigan Properties LLC has paid $1.9 million for 200 acres of undeveloped land in Milan, Michigan. In the past, Gates has invested in companies developing artificial or plant-based alternatives to meat, and he is currently the countrys largest private farmland owner, according to The Land Report, a magazine that surveys the countrys largest landowners annually. During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine-hesitant Americans were inundated with false rumors claiming that Gates was putting microchips into vaccines, that he was working on a mind-altering vaccine, that Gates had input tracking devices into vaccines, and that he once called for vaccinations as a way to depopulate the planet. Farmland in am. But these companies do not own a majority of U.S. single-family homes. Mar 4, 2009. Starting in 2013, Gates began investing his billions (through the firm Cascade Investment) in agriculture because of its steady increase in value and low volatility. How Long Can You Be Held Without Bond In Michigan? Gates owns almost 9,000 acres in Ohio, just over 9,000 acres in Indiana, nearly 18,000 in Illinois, but only 552 acres in Iowa. Satellites are on balloons and not in space.. That's a ginormous deal, one that pencils out to almost $12,000 per acre for a whole lot of acres. Many people wonder why Bill Gates would make these moves with his investment portfolio. Investors from the Netherlands own 33% of that land with Canadians owning 25%. While Gates is still the top farmland owner in the U.S., not all of the property he owns is farmland. 54. Will Bill Gatess green tech initiatives ever intersect with his growing agricultural empire? Why? These posts were flagged as part of Instagrams efforts to combat false news and misinformation. Gates responded: "I own less than 1/4000 of the farmland in the US. Momentum accelerated during the 2008-2009 Great Financial Crisis, when investors grew desperate for alternatives to traditional safe haven investments like bonds and gold. 1 landowner in the U.S. is billionaire John Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media, who tops . In that same Reddit AMA from 2021, the one where Gates separated his land investments from his sustainability initiatives, he also mentioned the importance of productive seeds to avoid deforestation as well as the production of biofuels, which relies heavily on corn, in the very same answer. 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. Gates said during a Reddit AMA: My investment group chose to do this. Although nowhere near 80 percent of U.S. farmland, its still a little more than one-third of the state of Rhode Island, a surprising amount for one person and enough to make Gates the largest landowner in the U.S. China has steadily accumulated U.S. Treasury securities over the last few decades. Estes, Nick. he has consistently made investing choices that brought him unusual and incredible returns, and this has brought him great wealth when others made the wrong fiscal moves, and lost much. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions." Back in January, US magazine The Land Report revealed that Bill and Melinda Gates have amassed the largest portfolio of private farmland in the US, comprising an estimated 242,000 acres. Thus, before we answer these questions, we are going to provide a brief summary of his financial history. Why? The Guardian, 5 Apr. Digital IDs were given to residents in East Palestine, Ohio, to track long term health problems like difficulty breathing before the Feb. 3 train derailment. The portion of land that isn't owned by farmers varies widely regionally; in some areas, almost 80 percent of agricultural land is held by non-operators. It has been very fulfilling for me and is my full time job," Gates continued. 2,167 acres. Zu den grten Gates-Unternehmen zhlen etwa Betriebe mit 27.952 Hektar in Louisiana, 19.395 Hektar in Arkansas, 10.420 Hektar in Arizona, 8.331 Hektar in Nebraska und 6.514 Hektar im Bundesstaat. Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. The current chicken and egg shortages trace mainly to an avian flu outbreak in the U.S. that began in early 2022 and was exacerbated by holiday demand and supply chain problems, the Agriculture Department reported. Egg prices havent come down with inflation. If Not for Climate, Then Why Is Bill Gates Buying so Much Farmland? AFN, 27 Aug. 2021, https://agfundernews.com/gates-if-not-for-climate-then-why-is-bill-buying-up-so-much-farmland. Are you ready for alternative proteins made from a volcanic microbe? for different crops that have been gene edited to be pest-proof, flood proof, disease proof, and climate change-resistant. In the Reddit AMA, he also said he'll sell what he owns as money goes towards the foundation. North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring spoke with KFYR, stating that the public reaction to the purchase has been negative.