Over time, Gates sold personal stock in Microsoft and. Photo of electric charging station powered by diesel generator is emblematic of the electric vehicle movement. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is focused partly on agricultural development to support farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Bill Gates and conspiracy theories go together like peanut butter and jelly. 2021. District of Columbia Of those states, Gates owns the most land in Louisiana, where he is proprietor of more than 69,000 acres. 11 Jan. 2021, https://landreport.com/2021/01/bill-gates-americas-top-farmland-owner/. Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. 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. Purchasing your own farm outright means that you are not diversified across many farms; just 1. The North Dakota attorney general's office recently inquired into a 2,100-acre farmland purchase by Red River Trust, an entity affiliated with Bill Gates. Why Is Bill Gates Buying So Much Farmland? Across the nation, Gates' affiliates . According to a 2021 report from the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Agriculture Statistics Service, there are 895,300,000 acres of farmland in the United States. Where Does Bill Gates Own Farmland in the US. Washington, DC The report states that Gates has 70,000 acres of land in North Louisiana where they grow soybeans, corn, cotton. Bill Gates speaks during the Global Fund's Seventh Replenishment Conference, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, in New York. Microsoft founder and billionaire turned philanthropist Bill Gates recently laid the long-time conspiracy theory that he owns some 80% of all U.S. farmland to rest in his 11th appearance in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit. 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. He has been buying thousands of acres across America. Bill Gates buys farmland in Amish Country. Last year, Gates vowed to give away "virtually all" of his fortune to the philanthropic foundation he runs with French Gates. One such rumor claimed that there had been an unusual number of fires at food processing facilities in 2022. The No. In January 2021, Bill Gates became the largest owner of farmland in the United States. While he owns a significant amount, it is a relatively small slice of the nation's nearly 900 million total farm acres. These rumors, like the present rumor about Gates buying up the majority of farmland in the United States for nefarious purposes, are all false. Billionaire Bill Gates explains why he buys a lot agricultural land - Photo: BENZINGA. 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. According to The Land Report, the Microsoft co-founder owns farmland across 18 states, with the largest holdings being in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Nebraska (20,588. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is America's top private farmland owner. The explanation offered by conspiracy theorists for this untrue claim was that these fires were being intentionally set in order to create a food crisis. Are you ready for alternative proteins made from a volcanic microbe?," March 24, 2020, NPR, "Why Bill Gates Is Investing In Chicken-Less Eggs," June 13, 2013, CNN, "Memphis Meats raised $161 million to grow meat from cells," Jan. 22, 2020, Insider, "Bill Gates and Richard Branson backed a food startup which grows meat in labs," Aug. 23, 2017, CNBC, "How Beyond Meat became a $550 million brand, winning over meat-eaters with a vegan burger that bleeds'," Jan. 21, 2019, Quartz, "Bill Gates headlines an all-star list of investors pumping $75 million into meatless burgers," Aug. 2, 2017, CNBC, "How Impossible Burgers simple vision won hundreds of millions in funding and backing from Bill Gates," March 7, 2019, The Washington Post, "Egg prices havent come down with inflation. During times of uncertainty, people often look for someone to blame, and peddlers of misinformation are quick to tell others at whom they should be pointing their fingers. About 350,000 acres of the U.S. government land in Hawaii were kept for military installations and national parks. According to lovemoney.com, the church owns more than 70 million hectares. Bill Gates was right when he sold his own Microsoft stock to diversify through Cascade in 1994. While the global climate change initiative is trying to reduce total emissions by the year 2050, the year 2030 is also important. 3. He responded that it was a decision his investment group made. What Happened: Gates answered dozens of questions over the course of a few hours during the AMA, including: Why are you buying up so much farmland, do you think this is a problem with billionaire wealth and how much you can disproportionally acquire?, He responded, I own less than 1/4000 of the farmland in the US. Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com. The Gates Foundation has focused their efforts on alleviating the aftermaths of climate change since its founding. The report states that Gates has 70,000 acres of land in North Louisiana where they grow soybeans, corn, cotton. This is a sponsored promotion for the AcreTrader platform. Business entities have, however, been increasing their presence as owners of rental properties. Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. Today, Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland in 19 states. News reports from the last several years suggest that Gates has at different times invested in start-ups focused on developing artificial or plant-based alternatives to meat, such as Natures Fynd, Hampton Creek, Memphis Meats, Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. Gates and his investment team own more than 240,000 acres, as reported by OKeefe, including 2,167 acres in Michigan. He has also written on his personal blog about the future of food, the increasing demand for meat as the global population rises and the environmental effects of livestock farming. According to a January 2021 article by The Land Report, Gates owned 242,000 acres of farmland through two investment management firms - Cottonwood Ag Management and Cascade Investment (here). Some of the biggest critics of Gates have deemed his philanthropy as a budding technocracy a tyranny of experts that both centralizes power into a private corporations interests. 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. As of October 2021, the Asian nation owns $1.065 trillion, or about 3.68%, of the $28.9 trillion U.S. national debt, which is more than any other foreign country except Japan. (here). It reported that as of 2022, Gates owned about 248,000 acres of farmland. One of the more colorful theories pertains to Gatess strange interest in U.S. agriculture, with rumors that the former Microsoft CEO owns upward of 80 percent of farmland in the United States. Michigan - 2,167 acres; Mississippi - 16,963 acres; Nebraska - 20,588 acres; New Mexico - 1 acre; North Carolina - 874 . 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. Gates is not the only billionaire on The Land Report 's list of top private farmland owners. Donald Trump is back on Twitter, thanks to Elon Musk. There isn't some grand scheme involved - in fact all these decisions are made by a professional investment team.". In fact, in June of 2022 he secured an additional 2,100 acres of farmland in North Dakota for roughly $13.5 million. The Gates have been quietly acquiring farmland through their investment manager, Cascade Investment, for over 10 years. In a March 2021 "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit, Gates was asked why he had purchased so much farmland. Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos has amassed 420,000 acres in recent years. In fact, he reportedly owns more farmland than any other individual in America. Officially, the general public doesnt know exactly what Bill Gates growing farmland estate is being used for. What Land Does Bill Gates Own In Michigan? The report states that Gates has 70,000 acres of land in North Louisiana where they grow soybeans, corn, cotton. While BlackRock does not directly own single-family houses, as the worlds largest asset manager (here), it owns stock in companies that do. Since its IPO in 1985, Microsoft has seen continual success. But the fact remains, as the Daily Mail notes, Gates computer "nerd" and vaccination enthusiast "has been revealed as the biggest private owner of farmland in the US, after buying up 242,000 acres in 18 states.". "In terms of the very rich I think they should pay a lot more in taxes and they should give away their wealth over time. Gates does own a lot of farmland. However, this practice of buying up agricultural land predates Bill Gates and has been a popular investment for the super-rich since at least the early 2000s. No one but Bill Gates knows that answer. Farmland in am. It was near-perfect timing too, as 2000 would quickly see the infamous tech crash of dot com stocks. The Agriculture Department estimates there are more than 895 million acres of farmland in the U.S., making Gates share 0.028%. Why? An entity linked to billionaire Bill Gates has reportedly purchased 2,100 acres of potato farmland in northern North Dakota angering local residents. 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. 54. Breitbart News previously reported that Gates is Americas largest private owner of farmland. Infected flocks are culled to prevent the flu from spreading. According to 2021 article from the Land Report, a magazine about land. Think about how much Bill Gates would have lost if he hadn't diversified in 1999. Plum Creek, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is the largest private landowner in Michigan after purchasing 650,000 acres in 2005. The Consumer Price Index shows chicken prices, including fresh whole chicken and fresh or frozen chicken parts, have increased 11% over the last year. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos . 20006, Florida 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. His . Toxic chemicals known as PFAS, or per- and, 2 hours, 2 minutes. Those people are upset, but there are others that are just livid about this.. 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. Avian flu is highly infectious, can spread rapidly from flock to flock, and can often kill chickens. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough. And many of the American farms Gates owns specialize in produce, such as onions, carrots and potatoes, NBC News reported in 2021. 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. 1995 - 2023 by Snopes Media Group Inc. In 2000, the new Gates foundation launched with Bill, Melinda, and Warren Buffet on the trustee board. Ive gotten a big earful on this from clear across the state, its not even from that neighborhood, said Goehring. Deals are highly vetted with around a 1% acceptance rate, You pick and choose what specific farms you want to invest in, Investors do not have access to a secondary market yet, so you should be familiar with the time horizon.