Bill Gates was right when he sold his own Microsoft stock to diversify through Cascade in 1994. Most notably, in 2017, the Gates-affiliated Mt. Some of the wealthiest landowners including Jeff Bezos, John Malone, and Thomas Peterffy are buying up forests, ranches and farmlands across . And they barely produce enough crops for food or profit. What Returns Should You Expect From Farmland Investing? The program could be an economic boon for farmers. Its the first time Gates has publicly commented on land purchases made by entities associated with him and his wife Melinda since they were named as the top private owners of US farmland by acreage earlier this year. 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. Here are the top farmlands in ND. 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. The story went dark on the buy side, however. I like that we have more value added., I dont like that its China, but the reality is, I dont have a leg to stand on because if theres nothing unlawful about it, just because I dont like something, doesnt mean it should go away.. In 2006, he helped launch TerraPower, a company developing a new type of compact, ultra-safe nuclear reactor. And already in 2022, the forecast averages about $100 billion in profits. At buildout, the Belmont development will create a brand-new metropolis, one similar in size to the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, home to Arizona State University and almost 200,000 residents. Louisiana is the. The largest parcel, a proposed 24,800-acre development known as Belmont, might someday contain 80,000 homes, along with offices, retail, industrial and logistics facilities. Bill Gates owns a lot of American farmland, but not the majority In the future, farmers will be paid for sustainability, says Sherrick, who sits on the groups board. I am quite confident that Eastwoods character, Steve Everett, would have picked up the stench from this setup a mile off: a $171 million acquisition by an LLC with two employees in a metal-sided building down a dirt road off the Bayou Teche? In the past 20 years, the foundation has grown to hold over $48 billion. Given the size and cost of 100 Circles, both of those figures made no sense at all. The cofounder of Microsoft and his wife make an auspicious debut on the 2020 LAND REPORT 100, as Americas largest private farmland owners. 1,539.24 acres of farmland in Champaign County for at least $16,959,677 between 2015 and 2019. For example, ethanol is a biofuel made from corn, barley, or sorghum and used as a gasoline alternative. People want to know, Why does Bill Gates want all this land?. The most famous and by far wealthiest farmland owners in sparsely populated Concordia Parish are getting a divorce. 'Gorilla Glue girl' Tessica Brown finds breast lumps befor Woman has 'loud, full body orgasm' in the middle of LA concert, Bride killed, groom seriously hurt by drunk driver just minutes after leaving reception, All the red carpet highlights and star-studded fashionfrom the Karl Lagerfeld-themed Met Gala, The best-dressed celebs at the 2023 Met Gala: Rihanna, Gisele Bndchen, more, Kim Kardashians Met Gala 2023 look sparks comparisons to Playboy cover, Kim Kardashian, Pete Davidson reunite at Met Gala 9 months after breakup, Khristina Williams previews the New York Liberty's 2023 WNBA season, Elon Musk Tells Bill Maher Woke Mind Virus Is Dangerous On Real Time, Katy Perry will be temporarily replaced on 'American Idol' amid drama. What is certain is that Gates won't be the last private citizen to do so. A $13.5 million purchase of a North Dakota potato farm is drawing outrage and legal scrutiny. Farmland is what is known as an alternative asset an investment that can grow wealth outside of the stock market. (According to The Land Report, Gates owns about 27,000 acres of non-agricultural land, in addition to his farm holdings.). Then again, farmers and investors in the Mid-Columbia River market expect to pay $10,000 to $15,000 for good ground. Is Gladstone Land Corp (LAND) A Good Investment? That proposed superhighway would run across a 5-mile stretch of the Belmont property. One of the most telling moments in the field that summer came when a soil scientist by the name of Alan Busacca grabbed a shovel and stepped into a 10-foot trench that had been ripped open on the farm by a Caterpillar 336. However, there are also countless farmland investing platforms gaining traction now too. 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. James B. Meigs is the co-host of the How Do We Fix It? podcast and the former editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics. The world is moving forward with renewable energy sources like solar and biofuels. (Through a spokesperson, the company declined to comment for this article.). He assigned his research team to dig a little deeper. Soon they came back with the answer: The Louisiana company was acting on behalf of Cascade Investment LLC, the secretive investment firm that manages most of the huge fortune belonging to Bill Gates. Bill Gates, one of the most powerful billionaires in the world and co-founder of . It was his last deal as a free man. Bill Gates is an American technology pioneer. 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. Gates is in 49th spot but rising. 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.. Why is Bill Gates buying up US farmland? - DW - 04/09/2021 Yet he's hardly alone. Farmland Index. Some are near cities and might end up having other uses.". Meanwhile, Chinese owners currently control more than 192,000 agricultural acres in the US, worth $1.9 billion, including land used for farming, ranching and forestry, the Agriculture Department told Politico last year. But the purchaser of record was a small, obscure company in Louisiana. Featured in the agricultural side of their plan is a strategy for subsistence farmers and other small-acre farms in Africa and the developing world education, resources, and layaway payment plans which can be used through smartphones. He had accumulated more than 269,000 acres of farmland across 18 states in less than a decade. Jun 24, 2022, 8:13 AM PDT. In addition, corporations and the rich are investing in farmland to deal with climate change and supply products to a hungry world with changing tastes.. Bill Gates tells Reddit why he's bought so much farmland - AFN Larson makes money, and Mr. Gates gives it away., Larson and his team are famously tight-lipped. 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. Learn more about fact-checking at AP. Sorry, but that didnt pass the sniff test. He was right when he predicted the COVID-19 epidemic in 2015. Think about how much Bill Gates would have lost if he hadn't diversified in 1999. The investments from both parties had locals raise their concerns to North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring on a July 6 in a town meeting. By clicking Sign Up, you also agree to marketing emails from both Insider and Morning Brew; and you accept Insiders. The biggest concern has been the Chinese companys proximity to a Grand Forks Air Force Base a United States military installation located 20 minutes down the road. 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. 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. The new green economy will mean new opportunities for land owners, OKeefe believes. Bill and Melinda Gates. BlackRock also does not own the majority of the countrys 80 million single-family homes. Investors bought a record 18.4% of the homes purchased in the fourth quarter of 2021 three-quarters of which were single-family homes. Editor Eric O'Keefe noticed a massive purchase (14,500 acres) of prime farmland in Washington State made by an unknown Louisiana-based LLC with two just employees. These states include: As previously mentioned, Bill Gates investment in farming may precipitate future advancements in Agri-Tech and traditional farming practices, i.e. 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. 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. For now, though, all that smart city talk is more than a little premature. Adding to the confusion, Blackstone was once a major investor in BlackRock, but sold off its stake in the 1990s. Farming is all of a sudden part of the solution and not just part of the problem, Sherrick adds. This private U.S. farmland REIT was a joint venture between Duquesne Capital Management and Goldman Sachs that launched in 2007. 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. Minutes later, a terse response arrived: Actually, when it comes to the extensive farmland portfolio of Bill and Melinda Gates, the question should be, Ever hear of Michael Larson? For the last 25 years, the Claremont McKenna College alum has managed the Gateses personal portfolio as well as the considerable holdings of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Also, because youre investing in the land itself, your investment not only is quite resistant to depreciation, but also provides some solid tax benefits due to be land ownership. That means Gates, whose net worth is estimated at some $134 billion according to Forbes annual ranking of the richest people in the country, owns less than one percent of the nations total farmland. In January 2021, Bill Gates became the largest owner of farmland in the United States. CSC Leasing: Non-dilutive Funding for AgTech Startups, Americas Cultivation Corridor: We Grow AgTech Innovation, largest portfolio of private farmland in the US, replace their consumption of cattle-derived beef, How to implement digital agriculture, step-by-step, The Week in AgriFoodTech: Restaurant order app me&u bagged $30m, Remilk approved for Israeli markets, biomaterials bonanza, First Bite: Better Bite Ventures backs four early-stage APAC alt protein startups, from cauliflower ice cream to cultivated seafood. In 1998, when he was the toast of Wall Street, the telecom cowboy paid British Columbias Woodward family the astronomical sum of $73 million for Canadas largest ranch: 500,000-acre Douglas Lake, a 22,000-head cattle operation. Bill Gates is an American technology pioneer. Contact Land Income today! Get the latest news and research from AFN & AgFunder in your inbox. Any historical returns, expected returns, or probability projections are forward looking statements and may not reflect actual future performance. 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,. In a recent episode of 60 Minutes, Gates explained that zero-carbon energy sources like nuclear power are vital in reducing the emissions that warm the atmosphere. But in total the Microsoft co-founder owns less than 1% of the nations total farmland. Bill Gates is buying up the majority of American farmland and BlackRock is buying the majority of single family houses but Im supposed to believe the biggest threat to us is Elon Musk buying Twitter? read one representative tweet thats been liked or shared on the platform more than 250,000 times. While Bill Gates is technically the largest farmland owner in the United States, he isn't. As Slate financial writer Henry Grabar concluded, the proposed town of Belmont is not a city, nor is it smart, nor does the Microsoft founder appear to be involved in any meaningful way.. Futures: at least 10 minute delayed. The small LLC had $171 million . People want to know, Why does Bill Gates want all this land? , But hyper-wealthy people like Gates dont make every decision personally, OKeefe notes. After losing his appeal in 2006, Ebbers spent most of the rest of his life in a federal prison before being granted compassionate release by a federal judge earlier this year. - Bill and Melinda Gates are taking on the new title of the biggest farmland owners in the United States, with a good chunk of that ownership being in Arkansas. Bill Gates land purchases look to me more like sensible long-term holds run by experienced asset managers.. Over time, Gates sold personal stock in Microsoft and reinvested it through Cascade Investment. As we learned above, in most farmland investment situations, the farmland owner leases their land to tenant farmers, who usually live on and work the land. Most of us imagine farmers tilling the soil that has been in their families for generations. More farmland investments may help struggling farms survive. And from an agricultural perspective, the region surrounding Walla Walla and the Horse Heaven Hills has evolved into a commercial hub, complete with controlled atmosphere (CA) storage, state-of-the-art transportation infrastructure, and ready access to low-cost hydropower. How can this inform our personal investment decisions? Which in turn means less impact on the environment. Fact Check-Bill Gates doesn't own most U.S. farmland - Reuters Youre not investing in a building that will decay over time, but the rich farmland itself. This position in Microsoft was quickly funneled by Cascade Investment into this long term growth strategy. Well, as with everything in life, there is always a trade-off especially in finance. 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). But the Microsoft tycoon is shooting down accusations that he has any ties to that company, The Post can exclusively confirm. Farmland has had a remarkably consistent ability to hedge against inflation, Sherrick says. Today, the Belmont tract remains mostly empty desert. Because of this crucial factor inherent to farmland, it also tends to provide better, consistent returns during times where inflation rises another scenario where more traditional assets like stocks and real estate suffer in. However, the Gates Foundation has been largely transparent at every level of their operations from their objectives, means, successes, and failures. He created the pledge in 2010 with his then-wife, Melinda French Gates, and his close friend and Berkshire Hathaway CEO, Warren Buffett. Officially, the general public doesnt know exactly what Bill Gates growing farmland estate is being used for. In his annual Reddit AMA Wednesday, Gates was asked why he has bought so much farmland. Turns out that very same property had caught my eye way back when The Land Report was preparing to launch in 2006. 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). Returns from farmland have actually outpaced the stock market in recent years with significantly less volatility. Gate's acquisition of so much American farmland may aid in manifesting technological improvement endeavors. Currently, no one knows. Gates was speaking to Redditors during an event marking the release of his new book, How to Avoid a Climate Disaster.. Instead, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board revealed in the fine print of a quarterly statement that it had sold $520 million in U.S. farmland assets held by Agriculture Company of America. 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. 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.. In the Reddit AMA, he also said he'll sell what he owns as money goes towards the foundation. While the global climate change initiative is trying to reduce total emissions by the year 2050, the year 2030 is also important. His magazine, The Land Report, tracks major land transactions and produces an annual list of the 100 biggest US landowners. But a rep for Gates is calling these claims ludicrous. Farmland REITs have a high degree of correlation with the overall stock market, and returns tend to be lower than less liquid farmland investments. By using this website, you accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Bill Gates has started laying out his plans for creating a smart city in Phoenix, Arizona, science-news outlet Futurism wrote. 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. It has been said that farmers can't afford to be pessimists. Does the name Bernie Ebbers ring a bell? It took a dozen years, but the ownership of that Louisiana farmland went from Bernie Ebbers to Bill Gates with a couple of stops in between. And Eastern Washington has some of the richest, most expensive farmland in the country. THE FACTS: As Elon Musks bid to purchase Twitter has grabbed headlines in recent days, some prominent voices have taken to social media to claim that some other significant acquisitions by deep-pocketed individuals and corporations have largely flown under the radar. Bill Gates Defends Farmland Purchases: 'There Isn't Some Grand Scheme' The Microsoft co-founder is considered the largest private owner of farmland in the country with some 269,000 acres across dozens of states, according to last years edition of. So I took a look at Dun & Bradstreet. Gates believes that subsistence farmers and impoverished peoples will be among the most affected by climate change. The group is called Leading Harvest, and the Gates-linked Cottonwood Ag is one of its founding members. According to landreport.com, the Gates family has a total of 242,000 in farmland acreage in the United States. of the richest people in the country, owns less than one percent of the nations total farmland. Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, has an alter ego, OKeefe wrote: Farmer Bill, the guy who owns more farmland than anyone else in America., The Land Report scoop made headlines. In 1994, the Gateses hired the former Putnam Investments bond-fund manager to diversify the couples portfolio away from the Microsoft cofounders 45% stake in the technology giant while maintaining comparable or better returns. Adding to the confusion, Blackstone was once a major investor in BlackRock, but sold off its stake in the 1990s. In early 2021, Bill Gates made headlines for becoming the largest private farmland owner in the U.S. Our exposure to Invitation Homes is owning its stock in mutual funds we manage, not buying houses w/ them, BlackRock tweeted. Why Bill Gates is now the US' biggest farmland owner - New York Post Responding to the question, Hey Bill! The arrangement is simple, The Wall Street Journal wrote in a 2014 profile. Especially when it comes to row crops like sweet corn and wheat, which were grown in rotation with potatoes on 100 Circles, which is the name of the property that changed hands. Janiecs sources said some of the AgCoA assets were quickly sold off, but according to the Land Report 100 Research Team, an estimated 242,000 acres of farmland remained. We invest in the farms to raise productivity. Cell ag experts weigh in, Vertical farming should be one instrument in a farmers toolbox, not the whole operation or the farmers competition, Technology is a means, not an end in farming: Key takeaways from Indoor Ag-Con 2023, Digitizing the supply chain drove investment increase in African agrifoodtech in 2022, It will be a year of bust-ups, roll-ups and M&A: VC predictions for agrifoodtech investment, Smoke & mirrors, not worth the extra cost: 50 US farmers speak out on carbon markets, Food & ag corporates prefer to engage with academia, research over startups, according to open innovation report. (Although our researchers identified dozens of different entities that own the Gateses assets, Larson himself operates primarily through an entity called Cascade Investment LLC.). Additionally, these small-scale, developing country farms serve local communities. The magazine editor, Eric O'Keefe, was researching a purchase of 14,500 acres of prime Washington State farmland and found that the buyer was a small company in . Tens of thousands of acres? Gates owns roughly 275,000 acres of farmland in the US, according to the 2022 edition of the Land Report 100, a yearly survey of the biggest landowners in the country. Weve never been one of the big institutional buyers of single family homes, BlackRock said in response to one tweet. An aerial image of the Highway 565 address revealed a small metal-sided building off by itself in the woods. The Tri-City Herald reported that the purchaser was a Louisiana investor, a limited liability company associated with Angelina Agriculture of Monterey, Louisiana. In 2017, Angelina Plantation changed hands one more time and became one of the principal farmland assets in the Gateses Cascade Investments portfolio. holding off on buying and working with what I have. Why Is Bill Gates Buying Farmland? You'll be Surprised Arable farmland is a finite commodity, and you should invest now. Report: Bill Gates is largest owner of private farmland in U.S., with But there is a very clearly distinction from Gates foundation, which focuses on humanitarian efforts, and his foundation trust, which solely focuses on financial investments. Along with his wife Melinda Gates, Bill owns over 268,000 acres of farmland diversified in over 19 states. This is a sponsored promotion for the AcreTrader platform. One main benefit to alt assets especially for those whore heavily invested in the stock market is you can diversify your overall investment portfolio outside the NYSE/NASDAQ. It seems like Gates is getting ahead of the curve, relative to future Agri-Tech advances profitability, with his farmland investments. Theories began spreading that a future food shortage could lead to a collaboration between China and Gates to invest in American farming land and take control of the countrys food supply. Invest like Bill Gates with the Best North Dakota Farmland It isless than .1% of all US farmland because the ownership is so diverse. One asked about the viability of seawater desalination to solve global water shortages. seed technologies, super-crops and overall farming efficiencies. But many farmers lease at least some of the land they cultivate. Since its IPO in 1985, Microsoft has seen continual success. Call it a hunch, but the story did not jibe. Farmland has some natural built-in drawbacks for all of the built-in benefits: Just 20 years ago, it was difficult to invest in farmland if you werent already independently wealthy. Jeff Bezos is 25th and owns about 420,000 acres of farmland. Goehring, however, reiterated the legality of owning farmland in the United States. Called Leading Harvest, the organizations goal is to create a sustainability standard that can be implemented across the greatest swath of agricultural acreage. In emails, BlackRock spokesman Christopher Beattie told The Associated Press that the firm. In North Dakota, the Pembina and Walsh County farmland purchased by Red River Trust in 2021 is leased to the Campbell family which has a long history of operating these Pembina and Walsh County farmlands, which has continued under the ownership of Red River Trust.. In 1999, Cascade Investment made an interesting decision: Gates sold over 7 million personal Microsoft shares to further diversify his portfolio. The Gateses largest single block of dirt was acquired in 2017: a group of farmland assets owned by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Gates co-founded Microsoft. Nebraska has the third-most Gates-owned farmland in the nation. Farmland Is Valuable, but Buying It Is Tricky for Fund Investors For example, seeds are being genetically designed to grow in near non-arable and hostile soil conditions.. Ebbers subsequently pledged Douglas Lake as collateral for $400 million he ended up borrowing from WorldCom, and in 2003, WorldCom sold Douglas Lake to Kroenke Ranches. Many stories focused on Gates longstanding interest in climate change and sustainability and suggested those concerns might be driving the land purchases. More often than not, farmland sales involve hundreds of acres. This half-billion-dollar figure corroborated the AgCoA acquisition, and the paper trail led directly to Cascade Investment LLC. The Land Report tracks numerous Louisiana landowners; Angelina Agriculture is not one of them. Busacca was in his element: It was some of the richest farmland in the Lower 48. While private companies and corporations are increasing. His idea, like many others, was to diversify his investments across different asset classes. Why Is Bill Gates Buying So Much Farmland? - Farmland Riches

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