Cascade Investment Makes Gates the Largest Private Farmland Owner in the United States
By 2021, Bill Gates — through his personal investment firm Cascade Investment and land management subsidiary Cottonwood Ag Management — had become the largest private farmland owner in the United States, with approximately 242,000 acres across 19 states including Louisiana (69,000 acres), Arkansas (47,900 acres), and Nebraska (20,600 acres). Gates has described the farmland investments as driven by interest in agricultural productivity innovation rather than land appreciation, with Cottonwood working with tenant farmers on soil health and sustainable practices. Total holdings have since grown to approximately 275,000 acres.
Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-gates-owns-275-000-154614844.html
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January 2024
Gates Uses Shell Companies to Quietly Accumulate $113 Million Nebraska Farmland Portfolio
A January 2024 investigation by The Guardian and Floodlight News revealed that entities connected to Bill Gates's Cascade Investment had used a network of limited liability companies — including Cottonwood Ag Management — to quietly purchase approximately 20,588 acres of Nebraska farmland valued at roughly $113 million, without disclosing the beneficial owner to local sellers or county officials. The acquisitions were part of Gates's wider strategy to become the largest private farmland owner in the United States, with holdings exceeding 269,000 acres across 18 states, managed through Cottonwood Ag Management and its parent Leading Harvest, which develops regenerative agriculture certification standards.
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