evidence: 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. O’Keefe unearthed this information after tracking the unnamed buyer of a conspicuously expensive single transfer of Washington acreage in 2018. The Tri-City Herald’s Wendy Culverwell reported that a farm partnership "with no clear interest in Washington" was behind the $171 million purchase of 14,500 acres in the Horse Heaven Hills area of southwest Benton County. The land is occupied by 100 Circle Farms, which produces potatoes for McDonald’s french fries. [...] "As best as can be discerned, I believe that Bill Gates’s farmland portfolio is a long-term hold. Keep in mind that one of Bill’s closest friends is Warren Buffet, the ultimate buy-and-hold investor," O’Keefe says.