Divorce Reveals One Of Bill Gates' Best-Kept Secrets

Surprise! According to The Land Report, Bill and Melinda Gates own approximately 270,000 acres of land across America, making them the biggest farmland owners in the country. Per an investigation by the outlet, of that land the former couple collectively own around 242,000 acres of farmland. By means of comparison, the average farm size in the United States is 444 acres (as per the USDA via Statista), which means that Bill and Melinda own land for, roughly 545 farms. They also own 25,750 acres of transitional land, and 1,234 acres of recreational land across 19 states, including California, Wisconsin, Oregon, Florida, and more. In Louisiana, the former couple owns over 69,000 acres of land. In New Mexico, they own just one. What's up with that? Glad you asked. We want to know, too. 

It's hard to know what Bill and Melinda intend (or intended, given their divorce) to do with their land acquisitions. In March 2021 Bill admitted to Reddit users in a Ask Me Anything session that "My investment group chose to do this. It is not connected to climate" (via AFN). He further emphasized, "The agriculture sector is important. With more productive seeds we can avoid deforestation and help Africa deal with the climate difficulty they already face. It is unclear how cheap biofuels can be but if they are cheap it can solve the aviation and truck emissions." The Gates Foundation's agriculture initiative, Gates Ag One, also professes to be a proponent of sustainable farming strategies (via The Land Report).