Who is the biggest absentee farmland owner in Illinois?

That’s the question Michael Lauher set out to answer recently. Lauher is incoming president of the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, and he’s also assistant vice president and farm manager at First Mid Ag Services, Mattoon, Ill. He authors the Land Values column for Prairie Farmer and ISPFMRA.

Lauher dove into data from county assessors, using a service that aggregates available online data; then he searched by name or tax bill location. In all, Lauher tracked the Illinois land holdings of 47 organizations and individuals. He grouped data into regions that ISPFMRA uses when reporting land values and lease trends. One caveat: This data represents what Lauher was able to capture, based on the information he could find.

The big result? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns 53,977 acres in Illinois, primarily in central Illinois but extending into northern Illinois, as well. Farmland Partners comes in second with 38,299 acres, with the Scully family close on its heels at 35,767 acres.

Bill Gates is a distant sixth place, with 17,103 acres in Illinois.

What does this mean for Illinois agriculture? Lauher believes it’s good news.

“The financial and investment market has finally recognized what a good investment farmland is. We’ve obviously seen a lot of money enter into the market,” he says.

Related:Who are the biggest absentee landowners in Illinois?

In total, the top 10 absentee farmland owners in Illinois hold 246,944 acres out of 26.3 million acres of total farmland — 1%.

Lauher emphasizes that farmers are still the largest owners and buyers of Illinois farmland, but it’s more distributed and not consolidated into big ownerships.

“That means the majority of farmland is owned by farmers and will continue to be for generations to come,” he adds.

Illinois has a long history of absentee farmland ownership, with 56% of the land owned by someone who does not farm it, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture. That compares to 50% in Iowa, 52% in Indiana and 39% nationwide.

Lauher says in his experience, a lot of that farmland is owned by descendants — children and grandchildren — who may not farm it themselves but still feel a connection to the land and still want to hold on to it.

Noticeably absent from this list is any foreign ownership, particularly China. Lauher says he’s unaware of any billionaires in China or arms of the Chinese government buying up farmland. He points to Chinese-owned companies like Syngenta or Smithfield Farms, which own land in the U.S. When Arkansas ordered Syngenta to sell 160 acres last fall, Syngenta spokesman Saswato Das told Reuters that the company owns about 1,500 acres of U.S. agricultural land for research, development and regulatory trials.

Back in Illinois, two organizations came in with a lot of acres but not enough to make the top 10 — and both have bought Illinois farmland specifically for sustainable or organic production, Lauher says. They are:

What’s the lesson for farmers as they look at this list and analyze the numbers? Lauher, a longtime farm manager, is clear.

“All business is about relationships, and that includes farming. The better you develop your relationship skills with your neighbors and with people who own land but not necessarily in the area, the better you can grow your operation,” he says.

Click here to expand the chart

So, who are the 10 largest absentee landowners in Illinois?

1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church, retains its top position as the largest absentee farmland owner in Illinois, with nearly 54,000 acres — almost 30% more than the next highest organization. Through its investment arm, Farmland Reserve Inc., the church has made substantial investments in farmland across the U.S. Why farmland? The church believes it’s a stable, long-term investment that will pay dividends to fund its humanitarian efforts.

2. Farmland Partners. Farmland Partners moved up the list this year and established itself as the second-largest absentee farmland owner in Illinois, with more than 38,000 acres. Farmland Partners is a farmland real estate investment trust, or REIT, which is sometimes described as a mutual fund that holds real estate. Farmland Partners owns and manages a vast portfolio of farmland across the country.

Farmland Partners’ founder and CEO, Paul Pittman, grew up on a farm family in Illinois and graduated from the University of Illinois with an ag degree. Farmland Partners’ largest holdings are in Edgar County, purchased from race car magnate and businessman Gerald Forsythe in 2015.

3. Scully family. The Scully family remains one of the most significant absentee landowners in Illinois with nearly 35,800 acres, largely based in Logan County.

The family’s patriarch, William Scully, was an Irish nobleman known for his controversial land dealings and landlord-tenant conflicts in Ireland during the mid-1800s. Seeking new opportunities, Scully emigrated to the U.S., where he acquired vast tracts of swampy land in Illinois, particularly in Logan County, at remarkably low prices — some for as little as 50 cents per acre. Using his expertise in drainage from Ireland, he dug ditches and installed drain tile, transforming the ground into productive farmland. Scully speculated that a railroad would eventually connect Chicago to St. Louis. The land was drained, the railroad came in, and Scully made his fortune.

Scully’s vision and investment paid off, and he acquired 211,000 acres across Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, with 30,000 acres concentrated in Logan County alone. Today, the Illinois land has been passed down through family trusts to descendants of his grandsons, Michael and Peter Scully.

4. Lawrence family. The Lawrence family, led by Gaylon Lawrence Jr., owns over 165,000 acres of farmland across multiple states, including just over 33,000 acres in Illinois. The family’s patriarch, Gaylon Lawrence Sr., began acquiring farmland in the mid-20th century, expanding the family’s portfolio to include various agricultural operations, from citrus farms in Florida to row crop farms in the Midwest. After his death, his son continued to expand and diversify the family’s agricultural investments.

The Lawrence family’s approach to farmland investment includes partnerships with local farm operators. Many, but not all, of their holdings are in partnership with local farmers, and those acres are included in these figures.

4. University of Illinois and University of Illinois Foundation. The University of Illinois and its foundation own nearly 20,000 acres in Illinois, putting that land to work for education, research and revenue generation. The U of I Foundation encourages farmland donations because the gift can support the university’s mission, and the donor can receive tax benefits while knowing the land remains productive and well-managed.

6. Bill Gates. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates comes in at No. 6 in Illinois, with just over 17,000 acres. Nationwide, Gates is the largest private farmland owner, with about 270,000 acres across 19 states. Gates’ broader interests lie around sustainable agriculture, climate change and improving global food security. He also supports initiatives like Leading Harvest, which promotes sustainable food production.

7. Ceres Partners. Based in South Bend, Ind., Ceres Partners is an asset investment manager focused on food and agriculture with large holdings in Indiana and Michigan. Founded in 2007, Ceres Partners manages more than 160,000 acres across 12 states, with more than 14,000 acres in Illinois. The firm says its investment objectives are to provide income and capital appreciation with low volatility and low correlation to other asset classes.

8. Renato Ribeiro. Ribeiro is the owner of Incobrasa Industries, a soybean processor and biodiesel plant in Gilman, Ill. Ribeiro owns more than 12,500 acres in Illinois, most of which is located in Moultrie, Piatt, Champaign and Iroquois counties. He began investing in central Illinois farmland in the early 1980s.

Ribeiro founded Incobrasa in 1997 as a soybean crushing facility, added a biodiesel plant in 2007, and last fall announced a $250 million expansion that will include a 170,000-square-foot crushing facility and a 50-acre solar array.

9. Lo family. The Lo family owns more than 11,000 acres, primarily in Champaign County. Until 2016, Renee Lo actively farmed the ground along with her husband, Adolf Lo, a cardiac surgeon. The Lo family retired in 2016, marking the end of an era for their hands-on stewardship of the land.

10. Shahid Khan. Self-made billionaire owner of the car parts manufacturer Flex-N-Gate, Khan comes in at No. 10 with just under 11,000 acres of Illinois farmland. He also owns the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team and Fulham F.C. in the United Kingdom.

Originally from Pakistan, Khan moved to the U.S. to attend the U of I and is known for his philanthropy, having donated millions to his alma mater and other organizations.