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According to Microsoft, the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, is now the owner of most agricultural land in the United States.
The Land Report researchers concluded that Gates, now the fourth richest man in the world, and his wife, Melinda, own 242,000 acres of farmland.
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They own about 52,000 more acres than the Offutt family, which ranks No. 2 on the Land Report list of families that own the most agricultural land in the United States.
In total, Bill and Melinda Gates have acquired land in more than a dozen states. However, its largest land holdings are in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres), Nebraska (20,588 acres), Arizona (25,750 acres) and the state of Washington (16,097).
Bill Gates speaks at the 2019 New Economy Forum at China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) on November 21, 2019 (Hold Yu / China News Service / VCG via Getty Images)
According to research by Land Report, Gates and his wife hired Michael Larson, the former fund manager of Putnam Investments, in 1994 to help them diversify their personal assets.
These investments included a stake in AutoNation, the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Four Seasons in San Francisco and more than 100,000 acres of farmland in various states, Land Report said, referring to a profile of Larson in the Wall Street Journal in 2014.
However, Land Report’s latest findings show that the 100,000 figure has since risen to more than twice as much.
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Although Gates is widely known as the man behind Microsoft, he is no stranger to agriculture.
Since the early 2000s, Gates and his wife have been touring the agricultural space through numerous investments to support farmers in the developing world.
In 2008, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $ 306 million in grants to promote the incomes and incomes of millions of smallholder farmers in Africa as well as ” other parts of the developing world, freeing themselves and their families from hunger and poverty. ‘
The foundation has also partnered with the Department of International Development (DFID) to support agricultural research projects in developing countries to help smallholder farmers increase their yields and incomes.
About a year ago, Gates created the nonprofit Gates Ag One to advance their goals of supporting agriculture in developing countries.