Is this simply a diversification of Gates' massive tech investment portfolio? It has also funded myriad research facilities and humanitarian operations, focusing on overcoming diseases, climate change, agricultural research, and health and nutrition in underdeveloped areas. Is this just a regular investment move, made on a large scale? 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. Larson makes money, and Mr. Gates gives it away., Larson and his team are famously tight-lipped. The arrangement is simple, The Wall Street Journal wrote in a 2014 profile. The region west of Phoenix is booming. Contact Land Income today! Gate's private American farmlands are worth an estimated $690 million.. Rating: False About this rating Context In April 2022, conspiracy theorists insinuated that billionaire Bill Gates. Currently, more than 2 million acres in 22 states and an additional 2 million acres in seven countries are represented. Gates co-founded Microsoft. 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. The total portfolio of farmland is worth well over $700 million. Adding to the confusion, Blackstone was once a major investor in BlackRock, but sold off its stake in the 1990s. The cofounder of Microsoft and his wife make an auspicious debut on the 2020 LAND REPORT 100, as Americas largest private farmland owners. Neither of these are a perfect option. AcreTrader is one of the most well-established farmland crowdfunding platforms out there. It seems like Gates is getting ahead of the curve, relative to future Agri-Tech advances profitability, with his farmland investments. How about Google Maps? According to Bruce Sherrick, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, about 60 percent of row-crop farmland in the Midwest is leased. 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. And Gates says investing in more farmland in the future is not off the table. The project isnt yet funded. Gates has been asked about his farmland purchases before. The billionaire recently came under severe criticism from a fourth-generation farmer in South Georgia for his farmland ownership in the U.S. Will Harris, who owns a 152-year-old family farm named White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia, said he has concerns about Gates controlling . BlackRock also does not own the majority of the country's 80 million single-family homes. Since 2016, Gates has led Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a venture-capital fund that invests in clean-technology startups. The typical farmer may plant anywhere between 75,000 to 250,000 seeds per acre to maximize as much seed yield advantage as possible. In it, the four-time Academy Award winner plays an over-the-hill journalist who has a nosefor a story. All told, the 2017 acquisition of AgCoA and the 2018 acquisition of the 100 Circles tract in the Horse Heaven Hills of eastern Washington total an investment in farmland assets of more than $690 million. At current valuations, its one of the nations best farmland opportunities. It was near-perfect timing too, as 2000 would quickly see the infamous tech crash of dot com stocks. And the Belmont property is located along Interstate 10, the regions major east-west artery, making it an excellent location for Amazon-style warehouse complexes. Whether or not Gates personally directed Cottonwood Ag to get involved in the Leading Harvest project, the move makes both environmental and business sense. 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. Large investors usually work with expert advisors to help them acquire and manage their agricultural holdings. 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. This half-billion-dollar figure corroborated the AgCoA acquisition, and the paper trail led directly to Cascade Investment LLC. Along with his wife Melinda Gates, Bill owns over 268,000 acres of farmland diversified in over 19 states. And Eastern Washington has some of the richest, most expensive farmland in the country. Bill Gates-Tied $13M Farmland Purchase Angers North Dakotans The burgeoning metropolis of Monterey, population 462, rang a bell, but despite my best efforts, I couldnt connect the dots to anyone whom we had profiled in The Land Report or, for that matter, anyone who was on our watch list. Bill Gates is the biggest private owner of farmland in the United The firm is a shareholder in plant-based protein companiesBeyond MeatandImpossible Foods, as well as agricultural equipment makerJohn Deere. The Gates can create worlds biggest agrifoodtech testbed but theyll need to win over farmers first. Sorry, but that didnt pass the sniff test. Is Farmland Partners (FPI) A Good Investment? Think about how much Bill Gates would have lost if he hadn't diversified in 1999. 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. And the rich are now buying up vast swathes of farmland. Contact Land Income today! That remains unclear. What Returns Should You Expect From Farmland Investing? You either had to directly buy the land, pony up millions to participate in a fund or purchase farmland via a REIT. Apply to GLOCALs 2023 program to help advance Latin American agrifoodtech, What is the role of biotech in an ethical food system? Are you interested in investing in farmland? That can mean better yields with decreased use of fertilizers and pesticides. Warren E. Buffett acquired a 400-acre Nebraska farm in the '80s that . These states include: As previously mentioned, Bill Gates investment in farming may precipitate future advancements in Agri-Tech and traditional farming practices, i.e. 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. BlackRock is sometimes confused w/ Blackstone, which owned Invitation Homes. Thats a ginormous deal, one that pencils out to almost $12,000 per acre for a whole lot of acres. 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 emails, BlackRock spokesman Christopher Beattie told The Associated Press that the firm primarily invests in retail, office buildings, hotels and apartment complexes, rather than single-family homes, but he declined to provide a breakdown. Thats exactly what I thought. The old saying about land is they aren't making any more of it. Supply and demand? 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. In the spring, the Fufeng Group, the largest privately-owned xanthan gum producer and flavor enhancer in China, dropped $2.6 million for farmland near Grand Forks a rural area that borders Minnesota and is about a 90-minute drive from the Canadian border. Click here to view current offerings on AcreTrader! (Through a spokesperson, the company declined to comment for this article.). 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. But, while Belmont might not be a smart city, it still looks like a smart investment. This private U.S. farmland REIT was a joint venture between Duquesne Capital Management and Goldman Sachs that launched in 2007. One of my favorite Clint Eastwood movies is the 1999 mystery/thriller True Crime. Ninety-six percent of everything produced in North Dakota leaves our state, said Goehring. retail, office buildings, hotels and apartment complexes, rather than single-family homes, but he declined to provide a breakdown. These subsistence farmers can order equipment and seeds they need, paying what they can over a longer period of time. Land Income. Given that Gates is the third-richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $132 billion, he falls in behind Tesla founder Elon Musk and Amazons Jeff Bezos those money managers have their hands full. In 1999, Cascade Investment made an interesting decision: Gates sold over 7 million personal Microsoft shares to further diversify his portfolio. So, if farmers do not improve farming methods, local communities suffer. In January this year, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that its creating a nonprofit entity called Gates Ag One which will seek to speed up efforts to provide smallholder farmers in developing countries, many of whom are women, with access to the affordable tools and innovations they need to sustainably improve crop productivity and adapt to the effects of climate change.. In his annual Reddit Ask Me Anything session on Wednesday, Gates was asked why he has made all of his farmland purchases. Bill Gates reveals reasons behind massive farmland purchases OKeefe knew Gates had been acquiring farmland for years, mostly through various Cascade subsidiaries. He sees Gates involvement even if indirect as crucial in encouraging the industry to embrace the new sustainability standard. NOW WATCH: Bill Gates has a net worth of over $96 billion here's how he makes and spends his money, his close friend and Berkshire Hathaway CEO, Warren Buffett, he'll sell what he owns as money goes towards the foundation.