Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres in the United States, making him America's largest private-farmland owner, according to The Land Report.
According to the report, Gates' total farmland is enough to cover 18 states. The Gates family's biggest holdings are in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres), and Nebraska (20,588 acres). Gates also owns several thousand acres of transitional land, which is being repurposed for 80,000 homes in addition to schools, offices, and stores.
During the previous decade, Bill and Melinda Gates became more involved in the farming industry, pledging $300 million over three years to support research to help Asian and African farmers adapt to climate change. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced in 2018 that it would invest $40 million in research to help breed chickens that lay better-quality eggs and cows that produce more milk for farms in the same continents.
While Gates is the top farmland owner, the largest landowner is billionaire businessman John Malone, who owns 2.2 million acres of land. Bill Gates is currently the world's fourth-richest person with a net worth of over $120 billion.
Source: Business Insider
