With a net worth of $ 121.7 billion, Bill Gates has now become the king of farmland. It is estimated that its lands, spread over 18 states, will occupy an area similar to seven times Manhattan.
Bill Gates is a landowner. Yes, he is also the co-founder of Microsoft and the fourth richest man in the world. But if something differentiates him from the other billionaires, it is that Bill owns large estates throughout the breadth and length of the United States of America. Between him and his wife, Melinda, they own 242,000 acres of farmland. This is published by Land Report, the magazine for land investors that tracks the largest landowners in the country.
The publication reports that Gates has been stealthily buying farmland in places as disparate as Florida and Washington and that heMost of the properties he has acquired are in Louisiana, with 69,000 acres; Arkansas with almost 48,000 acres, and Arizona with 25,750 acres.
He also reportedly owns approximately 16,000 acres in his home state of Washington, including a 14,500-acre piece of land in the Washington region. Horse Heaven Hills which was just purchased for almost $ 171 million.
Melinda and Bill Gates.
Gates also acquired another 27,000 acres of transitional and recreational land near Phoenix, which the Arizona Republic digital newspaper reported in 2017, were bought by the Gates couple to transform them into a neighborhood with space for 80,000 homes, more than 4,000 acres for schools, offices and stores; and 3,400 acres for open recreation areas.
The great landowners of the USA
However, despite being the largest private farm owner in the United States, he is not the largest landowner in the country. That “title” belongs to the president of Liberty Media, John Malone, which has 2.2 million acres (plus 49% of Starz shares and 29% of Discovery). And he is not alone in this area that seems to have become a trend among the wealthiest. Ace, CNN founder Ted Turner ranks second with 2 million acres of ranch land in eight states and Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, is also investing in land; and owns 420,000 acres, primarily in West Texas.
Bill Gates Property Map.
Although it is unclear why Gates has invested in so much farmland or how his land is currently used, Everything points to the future use of sustainable crops, which prioritize the protection of crops, soil and water resources. In fact, Michael Larson, chief investment officer at Cascade Investments, the company that Gates uses to control his investments, has not made a statement but has confirmed that the company supports this type of agriculture.
There is also speculation that these lands will be used in the future by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (the world’s largest private charitable foundation) to support agriculture in various countries. It should not be forgotten that in early 2008, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $ 306 million in grants to advance high-yield sustainable agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The foundation has also invested in the development and proliferation of climate-resistant “super crops” and higher-yielding dairy cows.
Y In 2018 the Gates Foundation announced that it would invest $ 40 million in research to help raise chickens that lay better quality eggs and cows that produce more milk for farms in South Asia and Africa.
What Mr. Gates can no longer hide is that software and tomato flavored tomatoes keep the latter.
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