Our Winter 2021 Issue features the debut of the Land Report 100 sponsored by Hayden Outdoors. Among the leading stories from this year’s report are: New No. 1: California’s Emmersons acquired Seneca Jones Timber 175,000 acres and became the nation’s…
By TODD WILKINSON During his storied career, Ted Turner has demonstrated an ability to look around corners and identify opportunities long before they become apparent to others. His prowess has been demonstrated with pioneering media platforms, professional sports teams, global philanthropy,…
The 2020 Land Report 100 sponsored by Hayden Outdoors Real Estate features the debut of Bill and Melinda Gates as America’s leading farmland owners with 242,000 acres of productive farmland in more than a dozen states. All told, the Gateses…
By ERIC O’KEEFE The cofounder of Microsoft and his wife rank as America’s largest private farmland owners. Call it a hunch, but the story did not jibe. I scanned the headline for the umpteenth time and then read and reread…
Text and photography by LYNN DONALDSON Russell Gordy is my neighbor. Let me rephrase that. Russell Gordy’s 48,000-acre Double Arrow Ranch sits just outside Livingston, the Montana town where my family and I live. Russell is a Texan, a native…
O’Connor Family | No. 16 587,800 ACRES The O’CONNOR RANCH encompasses portions of Goliad, Refugio, and Victoria counties in Texas’s Coastal Bend. Founded by Irish immigrant Thomas O’Connor (1817-1887), the County Wexford native owned approximately 100,000 head of cattle and…
Ford Family | No. 15 600,000 ACRES (up 20,000 acres) Founded by Washington native Kenneth Ford (1908–1997) in 1936, ROSEBURG FOREST PRODUCTS has become one of the largest family-owned wood products manufacturers in the nation. The company’s expansive timber holdings…
Lykes Heirs | No. 14 615,000 ACRES In 1900, patriarch Howell Tyson Lykes shuttered his medical practice in favor of growing citrus and raising cattle with his seven sons on 500 acres near Brooksville, Florida. Today, family-owned Lykes Bros. maintains…
Briscoe Family | No. 13 640,000 ACRES By the end of his long and distinguished life, two-term Texas governor Dolph Briscoe Jr. (1923-2010) ranked as the single largest landowner in the Lone Star State. The family’s BRISCOE RANCH COMPANY got…
Wilks Brothers | No. 12 708,475 ACRES (up 3,108 acres) Based west of Fort Worth, FRAC TECH founders Farris and Dan Wilks love land. Not only do they have substantial holdings in Montana and Idaho as well as properties in…
