Bill Gates is now the largest owner of farmland in the US

Discussion in 'Commercial Property' started by Redwing, 8th Mar, 2021.

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  1. Redwing

    Redwing Well-Known Member

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    The almost US$171 million sale of 5,868 hectares of farmland in Eastern Washington has uncovered that the purchase is for Bill Gates, which makes the 65-year-old from Seattle the largest private owner of farmland in the US.

    Bill and Melinda Gates own 97,934 hectares of farmland, according to The Land Report, with the largest block of land bought in 2017 from the Toronto-based Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Gates’ largest farmlands are in Louisiana and Arkansas where he owns a combined total of 47,347 hectares. His farmland purchases started as early as 2014 when he already had at least 40,000 hectares of farmland.The purchases have largely been made through Cascade Investment, which is operated by Michael Larson. Larson was hired in 1994 by Bill and Melinda Gates to diversify the couple’s personal portfolio away from his 45 per cent stake in Microsoft while maintaining comparable or better returns. Larson has also been reported to have bought the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Four Seasons in San Francisco.

    Bill Gates and wife Melinda now own the most farmland in the US

    When you think of Bill Gates, you probably think tech, not farmland. And yet, as The Land Report recently revealed, the former CEO of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is the biggest owner of farmland in the United States. Bill Gates and his wife Melinda own a whopping 242,000 acres across 18 states. The land is held by Cascade Investment, the holding company the Gates family uses for a variety of investments.

    upload_2021-3-8_18-14-25.png

    Land Report 100 Largest Landowners In The U.S. | The Land Report
     
    Redwing, 8th Mar, 2021
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  2. datto

    datto Well-Known Member

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    Bill's a mug.

    [​IMG]
     
    datto, 8th Mar, 2021
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  3. MTR

    MTR Well-Known Member

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    MTR, 8th Mar, 2021
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  4. Beano

    Beano Well-Known Member

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    Is there a "100 largest landowners in australia listing " ?
     
    Beano, 8th Mar, 2021
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  5. datto

    datto Well-Known Member

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    How much land does our Queen own?
     
    datto, 8th Mar, 2021
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  6. Momentum

    Momentum Well-Known Member

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    She owns Queensland
     
    Momentum, 8th Mar, 2021
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  7. mickyyyy

    mickyyyy Well-Known Member

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    Makes you wonder why he bought so much of the same thing as its Farm land, another person has been doing the same thing even before Bill...
     
    mickyyyy, 8th Mar, 2021
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  8. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    Russ Hinze was a pretty big landowner so is Clive Palmer.
     
    Scott No Mates, 8th Mar, 2021
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  9. Redwing

    Redwing Well-Known Member

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    Redwing, 8th Mar, 2021
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  10. Ruby Tuesday

    Ruby Tuesday Well-Known Member

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    Yes there was a list in the paper a while ago of the top 50 private landowners all of them had more than Bills little vegie patch, Twiggy has about 10x Bill and Gina has 100x what Bill has.
     
    Ruby Tuesday, 8th Mar, 2021
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  11. Ruby Tuesday

    Ruby Tuesday Well-Known Member

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    It is not all the same it is across 18 states
     
    Ruby Tuesday, 8th Mar, 2021
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  12. mickyyyy

    mickyyyy Well-Known Member

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    how do you mean?
     
    mickyyyy, 8th Mar, 2021
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  13. kierank

    kierank Well-Known Member

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    One day the world will realise the value of food and food security.

    Some have realised its value for decades ...
     
    kierank, 9th Mar, 2021
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  14. Cousinit

    Cousinit Well-Known Member

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    Most our farmland here in Aus is very poor compared to what you find in much of the US.
     
    Cousinit, 9th Mar, 2021
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  15. Cousinit

    Cousinit Well-Known Member

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    Cousinit, 9th Mar, 2021
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  16. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    When we were in South America I was staying in a hotel where there was also a family from Sweden who were farmers. The guy had lived in Queensland for a few years when he was young, working on a farm - so he had experience about the types of yields they were able to achieve from their cropping.

    He said the yields they get in Sweden were significantly higher (I can't recall exactly how much - but it was in the order of 4-5x higher yields I think - I could be wrong there) ... which means they were producing as much from their small farms as much larger farms would in Australia.
     
    Simon Hampel, 9th Mar, 2021
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  17. Paul@PAS

    Paul@PAS Tax, Accounting + SMSF + All things Property Tax Business Plus Member

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    China +99 times
     
    Paul@PAS, 9th Mar, 2021
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  18. Ruby Tuesday

    Ruby Tuesday Well-Known Member

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    No two locations are the same, often no-one location is the same, different advantages and constraints, regulations, taxation, micro-climate, climate, weather, soil , pests, topography, geology, crops and USES, infrastructure ,associated industries, market accessability, input availability , labour availability, finance availabilty, subsidy availability. Was a time in the US if you bought in certain locations you got paid for not planting and paid for planting other areas.
     
    Ruby Tuesday, 9th Mar, 2021
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  19. kierank

    kierank Well-Known Member

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    In 1975, I spent the Christmas Uni holidays on my Uncle/Aunt cattle station.

    Their driveway (from the homestead to the main road) was 30 kms long.

    I remember it dearly - I got dry-bogged (up to the axles) in a creek bed one night at around the halfway mark and had to walk all the back to the homestead to get help.
     
    kierank, 9th Mar, 2021
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  20. Beano

    Beano Well-Known Member

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    It's a long walk to mailbox from the house !:D
     
    Beano, 9th Mar, 2021
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