The 10 Largest Landowners in the State of Illinois Might Surprise You
The largest landowners in Illinois 2023 list is topped by a cattle rancher with close to 1 million acres. I was also surprised to see who was at number three.
A report released names of the largest landowners across America, I was surprised with what I saw when looking up the state of Illinois.
The Biggest Landowners in the US
Almost two-thirds of the land in the United States is privately owned, and a surprisingly small amount of individuals and families control a significant amount of this land.
According to the latest Land Report, these are the 5 biggest landowners in the United States:
- The Emmerson Family – 2.33 million acres
- John Malone – 2.2 million acres
- Reed Family – 2.1 million acres
- Ted Turner – 2.0 million acres
- Stan Kroenke – 1.627 million acres
That same report also revealed that Bill Gates is still America's largest private farmland owner, with almost 269,000 acres. That number is growing all the time.
The Largest Landowners in Illinois in 2023
Let's get to the very surprising landowner data for Illinois from farmlandriches.com. There are 55,593 square miles of dirt and 2,320 square miles of water, making Illinois the 25th-largest state, by land area. Illinois is approximately 37 million acres and close to 1 million acres are owned by one man.
1. Larry Goodman
Larry owns 800,000 acres of land primarily used for cattle ranching. He owns a very large meat processing company with plants all over the world.
2. Joe Ritchie
If you ever wondered if there's money to be made in auctioneering, here's your answer. Joe owns Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the largest industrial auctioneer in the world. Joe owns 72,000 acres of Illinois land that is primarily used for farming.
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3. The Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints,
You may know the church by its more common name, the Mormon Church. The church owns the largest landed area in Illinois, 38,000 acres.
[...] representatives of the church say they see farmland as a good way to protect and steward excess donations to the church — almost a rainy day fund, in case expenditures, ever become greater than donations. (TheSeam.com)
4. Mark Rockefeller
Mark is a member of the famous Rockefeller family, and he owns Rock Creek Cattle. And, like Larry Goodman, Mark uses his 35,000 acres mostly for cattle ranching.
5. Shahid Khan
The self-made billionaire owns Flex-N-Gate car part maker, the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, and 24,000 acres of Illinois land.
6. Michael Polsky
Michael is in the renewable energy business. His company, Invenergy, uses his 22,000 acres primarily for wind energy projects
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7. Bill Gates
Bill is often reported as the largest individual farmland owner in the U.S. and quite a bit of it is central Illinois farmland, 17,940 acres to be exact.
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8. Farmland Partners
Farmland Partners is a private real estate company in the farmland acquisition business. At present, they have acquired 12,070 acres of land.
9. Mike Kim
Mike has a lending company called, Credibly, and so far he has acquired 2,500 acres of land primarily used for agriculture.
10. Eric Trump
The son of Donald Trump owns the Trump Winery and the 2,000 acres of Illinois land he owns is used for vineyards.