farms Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

Why Bill Gates Is Investing Big Time In Farmland Across Washington And The Country

By NWPB News February 17, 2021

File photo. Washington state's richest residents, including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, would pay a wealth tax on certain financial assets worth more than $1 billion under a 2021 proposed bill whose sponsor says she is seeking a fair and equitable tax code. Under the bill, starting Jan. 1, 2022, for taxes due in 2023, a 1% tax would be levied not on income, but on "extraordinary" assets ranging from cash, publicly traded options, futures contracts, and stocks and bonds. CREDIT: Elains Thompson/AP

Seattle’s technology billionaires are many things: innovators, visionaries, philanthropists and some less polite descriptors, depending on whom you ask. But thanks to some scrupulous digging by industry journal The Land Report, which tracks land ownership across the country, we now know that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has another feather in his multi hyphenated career Read More

An Airbnb For Cropland Hits A Snag, As Farmers Raise Data Privacy Concerns

By NPR News February 24, 2020

A mix of barley, peas and flax grows in a field at Casey Bailey's farm near Fort Benton, Mont. Bailey sells this crop to Montana dairy farmer Nate Brown, who has been feeding it to his goats.

American farmers spend about $32 billion each year to rent land, and Tillable CEO Corbett Kull thinks his company could be farmland's AirBnB or Zillow. "This is one of the beauties of digital marketplaces, where you can bring two parties together that otherwise might never meet," he says.Read More

Washington And Oregon Solar Projects Face Legal Hurdles From Farmland Projection Groups

By Tom Banse June 3, 2018

Blue-sliver solar panels in the sun. They on top of brown dirt ground. The sky is blue with little white clouds. The shadow of the solar panels are directly beneath the panels.

1:00 Two projects that would convert cropland in Oregon and Washington into large solar farms are hitting new bumps. Last week the Oregon Court of Appeals issued a ruling that blocks a planned 80-acre solar project on farmland outside Medford in southern Oregon. Read More