Summary List PlacementMicrosoft cofounder and philanthropist Bill Gates owns 242,000 acres of farmland in the US — making him the largest private farmland owner nationwide, according to a national survey. Gates, whose net worth of nearly $121 billion makes him the world's fourth-richest person, and his wife Melinda Gates hold an extensive farmland portfolio stretching over 18 states, according to The Land Report. The Gates family's biggest holdings are in Louisiana (69,071 acres), Arkansas (47,927 acres) and Nebraska (20,588 acres).