In the annual “State of Agriculture” report threats to the food industry in North Carolina include loss of farmland, and access to roads, water, and energy.
BY HANNAH WEINBERGER / CROSSCUT
Originally published Feb. 10, 2021 on Crosscut.com
Seattle’s technology billionaires are many things: innovators, visionaries, philanthropists and some less polite descriptors, depending on whom you ask. But thanks to some scrupulous digging by industry journal The Land Report, which tracks land ownership across the country, we now know that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has another feather in his multi hyphenated career cap: America’s Top Private Owner of Farmland.
Gates has spent years quietly diversifying his $129 billion fortune through asset manager Cascade Investments to include at least 224,000 acres of U.S. farmland since at least 2014, when the acreage was rapidly increasing in value. But a few weeks ago, The Land Report Editor Eric O’Keefe revealed Gates’ field-topping stake in cropland as well as that he’s now the 49th largest private owner of land in the country, period.
Bill Gates is investing big in American farmland
The Microsoft co-founder’s personal investments mirror a growing trend amongst the uber-wealthy. By Hannah Weinberger, Crosscut
Share: FILE - In this Feb. 1, 2018, file photo, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda take part in an AP interview in Kirkland, Wash. Bill Gates is starting a new fight against systemic poverty in America, as his private foundation announces millions of dollars toward unspecified initiatives ranging from data projects to funding for community activists. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Seattle’s technology billionaires are many things: innovators, visionaries, philanthropists and some less polite descriptors, depending on whom you ask. But thanks to some scrupulous digging by industry journal The Land Report, which tracks land ownership across the country, we now know that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has another feather in his multi hyphenated career cap: America�