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Microsoft founder Bill Gates is now the owner of most agricultural land in the United States, according to the Land Report.
Land Report researchers concluded that Gates, now the fourth richest man in the world, and his wife, Melinda, own 242,000 acres of agricultural land.
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They own about 52,000 hectares more than the Offutt family, which ranks second on the list of Land Report families that own the most agricultural land in the USA.
In total, Bill and Melinda Gates 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 Washington state (16,097).
Bill Gates speaks during the 2019 New Economy Forum at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE) on November 21, 2019 (Hou Yu / China News Service / VCG via Getty Images)
According to the Land Report survey, Gates and his wife hired former Putnam Investments securities fund manager Michael Larson in 1994 to help them diversify their personal assets.
These investments include a stake in AutoNation, the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Four Seasons in San Francisco and more than 100,000 acres of agricultural land in various states, Land Report said, citing a 2014 profile of Larson in the Wall Street Journal.
However, the latest findings from the Land Report show that the number of 100,000 since then has more than doubled.
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Although Gates is widely known as the man behind the technology giant Microsoft, he is familiar with agriculture.
Since the early 2000s, Gates and his wife have made a foray into the field of agriculture through various investments to support farmers in the developing world.
In 2008, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced $ 306 million in grants to increase the incomes and incomes of millions of smallholder farmers in Africa, as well as “other parts of the developing world so they can get themselves and their families out of hunger and poverty. “
The foundation has also partnered with the Department for International Development (DFID) to support agricultural research projects in developing countries to help small farmers increase their production and income.
About a year ago, Gates created the non-profit organization Gates Ag One to promote his goals of supporting agriculture in developing countries.