Bill Gates is the largest farmer in the United States. But what does he want with all that land, not only the farmers ask themselves. What are the long-term goals of the high-tech billionaire? Is it a test field for the agriculture of the future?
Bill Gates is the largest farmland owner in the United States . These areas are spread over more than a dozen federal states – and many farmers wonder what the high-tech billionaire is planning to do with the huge agricultural land. Because: Good arable land is scarce even in the huge USA – and land prices are currently rising steeply.
In addition: Bill Gates paid significantly higher prices in a number of cases than the local farmers could pay – and thus pushed the farmers out of the market. But what is the goal of the largest farmer in the USA who, in addition to his agricultural projects, is also very much involved in “alternative agriculture”? – This also includes his goal that the rich industrialized countries should in future only consume meat on the basis of synthetic meat products.
There is also a lot of Bill Gates’ money in projects of so-called “sustainable land management” – albeit in large companies or organizations that are reluctant to look into their cards. Last but not least, many farmers and commentators in the USA suspect that it is simply an investment – as was the case with Warren Buffet or Jeff Bezos – that brings more returns than many other forms of investment.
In any case, Warren Buffett, whose net worth is about $ 85 billion, says buying farmland outside of his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska was one of his original, oldest, and best long-term investments.
Farmers know that when farmland is sold in this country, usually only a few hectares change hands. It’s not much different in the US – the statistics show. For larger areas, the sums required are usually much too large for the normal farmer. This also means: In the USA, large transactions with several hundred or thousand hectares are very rare.
Sales of more than 1000 arces are referred to as “Blue Moon Events”. Land Report magazine found Bill Gates’ last purchase price was $ 12,000 per acre in Benton County, Washington, for a total of $ 171 million. That is a lot of money and for many farmers it is beyond their ideas and possibilities.
Bill Gates’ land holdings are also spread across numerous states. This includes large areas in Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, California, and about a dozen other states. With Washington State acreage and other areas recently added to its portfolio, Gates now owns at least 242,000 acres (nearly 100,000 acres) of American farmland.
But the farm gate won’t say Bill Gates is the owner. Rather, the land then belongs to the Cascade Investment Group or the Cottonwood Ag Management companies that Bill Gates founded for this purpose. And then Bill Gates is probably the farmer’s neighbor after all.
Will Bill Gates’ farms become a test bed for high-tech agriculture?
With this in mind, one might assume that Bill Gates intends to turn his 100,000 acre farm into the world’s largest testing ground for agricultural, food and climate-related techniques and technology . The New York Post asked, “People want to know why does Bill Gates want all this land?” There it is believed that he wants to reinvent agriculture “single-handedly”.
However, it is also pointed out that Mr. Gates invests in a diversified portfolio. Another reason given is that “arable land has a remarkably consistent ability to hedge against inflation. A company spokesman for Cascade Investment, when asked by journalists, declined to comment on certain land purchases or their purposes, with the exception that it was about the support and implementation of ” sustainable agriculture “.
Not only does Cascade own huge arable land, but the company also invests large sums of money in plant-based protein manufacturers such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. In addition, through the private Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gates are involved in a large number of agricultural startups – such as the crop protection company AgBiome or the meat producer Memphis Meats.
Bill Gates also leads Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), a fund focused on solutions to climate change – which also includes numerous other tech billionaires.
