The Old News...
More empty words... knowing that it will speed up the inflation.
https://news.sky.com/story/cost-of-living-help-will-have-minimal-impact-on-inflation-says-rishi-sunak-12622269
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The world's biggest private landowners
1. Queen Elizabeth II (the new King now?): 2.7 billion hectares By far the world's largest non-governmental landowner, Queen Elizabeth II is the head of the British Commonwealth and therefore legal owner of around 2.7 billion hectares of land, as estimated by The New Statesman. That's as much as a sixth of the planet’s land surface. The Crown Estate includes prime chunks of London, massive tracts of agricultural land in rural Britain, and more than half of the UK's foreshore. The Crown also owns over 90% of land in Canada, where Queen Elizabeth II is head of state. However, the land cannot be sold by the Queen and is not considered her private property.2. The Catholic Church: 71.6 million hectares The Catholic Church is estimated to hold an incredible 71.6 million hectares of land in its bulging real estate portfolio, an area larger than France, according to The New Statesman. This makes the Holy See is the second-largest non-government landowner in the world, with vast swathes of land in countries from Germany to India.3. The Inuit people of Nunavut: 35.3 million hectares The Inuit in Nunavut, northern Canada, have title to over an enormous 35.3 million hectares in the region. The land was handed over by the Canadian Government in the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement in 1993 and went on to form the territory of Nunavut, which was created in 1999.Joint 5. Inuvialuit of the Inuvialuit Settlement Region: 9.1 million hectares Thanks to the Western Arctic (Inuvialuit) Claims Settlement Act, signed in 1984, the Inuvialuit living in Canada’s western Arctic hold title to 910,000 square kilometres of land, equivalent to 9.1 million hectares. The region’s logo is a gyrfalcon, the largest falcon in the world. It was chosen just as the bird was about to be taken off the endangered species list, serving as a symbol for the Inuvialuit’s resilience – particularly when it comes to the issue of land ownership.Joint 5. Zhongding Dairy Farming & Severny Bur shareholders: 9.1 million hectares The world's largest farm is the 9.1 million-hectare Mudanjiang City Mega Farm in China, which is jointly owned by China's Zhongding Dairy Farming and Russia's Severny Bur. The dairy farm, which is roughly the size of Portugal, supplies the Russian market and is home to 100,000 cows with the capacity to pump out 800 million litres of milk a year.6. Oldfield and Costello families: 7.71 million hectares In late 2018, Australian farmers Viv Oldfield and Donny Costello teamed up to buy the 1.65 million-hectare cattle station Clifton Hills in South Australia, the country's second-largest farm and one of the biggest in the world. Earlier this year, their joint venture – the Crown Point Pastoral Company – boosted its holdings by 3.26 million hectares after it bought three stations from Gina Rinehart, bringing its total landmass to 7.71 million hectares.7. MacLachlan family: 6.95 million hectares Another Australian farming business, the Jumbuck Pastoral Company was established in Adelaide by patriarch HP MacLachlan back in 1888. The firm, which is wholly owned by the founder's descendants, owned 5.7 million hectares of land in 2016, according to The Weekly Times. It's since expanded its holdings with the purchase of the 1.25-million-hectare Wave Hill Station in early 2021. 8. Gina Rinehart: 6.7 million hectares Unsurprisingly, Australia's wealthiest person is the country's number one private landowner too. In 2016 mining magnate Gina Rinehart (pictured), who has a net worth of $31.3 billion (£23.8bn), teamed up with China's Shanghai CRED Pastoral to buy the lion's share of S. Kidman & Co. As the largest individual private landholding on the planet, this added to her already bulging real estate portfolio. Controversially, Rinehart has been looking to open a new 2,800-hectare coal mine in Canada’s Rocky Mountains and has launched legal proceedings to overturn its rejection. Although she's keen to expand her mining empire, however, she's selling off swathes of land elsewhere. According to ABC Rural, the magnate had listed around 3,787,519 hectares for sale by the end of January this year. The sales will bring her total holdings to around 6.7 million hectares. 9. Joe Lewis & various shareholders: 6.4 million hectares Dating way back to 1824, the Australian Agricultural Company is the nation's oldest firm. Today, British tycoon Joe Lewis (pictured) is the major shareholder. The company owns and operates a huge 6.4 million hectares in Queensland and the Northern Territory. 10. North Australian Pastoral Company: 6 million hectares Founded in 1877, the privately-owned North Australian Pastoral Company is one of the largest cattle companies Down Under. The company manages six million hectares in Queensland and the Northern Territory, including the 1.6 million-hectare farm Alexandria, which has around 55,000 head of cattle.11. Handbury Group: 5.28+ million hectares The nephew of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Paddy Handbury heads the eponymous family group, which owns and operates Arcoona Cattle Station and Wagyu cattle property Swinging Shovel in South Australia, as well as Western Australia's The Rises. The combined hectarage of the properties comes to more than 5.28 million.12. Williams family: 4.5 million hectares The Williams family's eponymous cattle company acquired the gigantic Anna Creek Station in South Australia in 2016, which at 1.57 million hectares is the largest working cattle station in the world. The family also owns another seven cattle stations in the same state, totalling 4.5 million hectares.13. Macquarie Group shareholders: 4.4 million+ hectaresYet another vast Australian farming enterprise, the Paraway Pastoral Company runs a number of major sheep, cattle and crop businesses covering more than 4.4 million hectares across the country. The firm is owned by Australian banking giant the Macquarie Group.14. Guy Hands & various shareholders: 3.6 million hectares Australia's largest privately-owned beef producer, the Consolidated Pastoral Company has approximately 300,000 head of cattle at any one time and a massive 3.6 million hectares throughout the country, plus two feedlots in Indonesia. The company is majority-owned by UK investor Guy Hands' Terra Firma Capital Partners.15. McDonald family: 3.36 million hectaresOld McDonald had a farm – and then some. The venerable Australian McDonalds have been farming Down Under since the early 19th century and by 2013, the family was running a total of 175,000 head of cattle over 3.36 million hectares in the heart of Queensland. That same year, tragedy struck the family when cattle baron Alexander McDonald died after falling from a windmill. 16. Hughes family: 3.14 million hectares The Hughes clan have run the family cattle business in Queensland since 1872. The Hughes Pastoral Company is one of the biggest and most profitable beef-producing enterprises on the planet, specialising in the premium Wagyu cut. In June last year the company paid a record-breaking AUS$180 million ($131m/£100m) for the 438,000-hectare Miranda Downs cattle station, the largest amount of money ever paid for a single pastoral holding in Australia. The purchase brought the Hughes' total holdings to 3,138,000 hectares.17. Brook family: 3 million hectares Along with his family, organic agriculture enthusiast David Brook owns and operates farms in southern Queensland and South Australia. His holdings total 3 million hectares, according to his profile on OBE Organic Group, across which cattle can freely roam in line with the company's free-range ethos. OBE Organic, as a conglomerate of farms owned by families across Australia, comprises more than 8 million hectares.18. Holmes à Court family: 2.7 million+ hectares The aristocratic Holmes à Court family are the proud owners of Australia's Heytesbury Cattle Company, which controls more than 2.7 million hectares of land in the country's vast Northern Territory.19. Handelsbanken shareholders: 2.6 million hectares Swedish bank Handelsbanken is the majority owner of the Swedish Cellulose Company (SCA), Europe's largest landowner. The company says it has around 2.6 million hectares of forest in northern Sweden, equivalent to the size of North Macedonia.20. Hewitt family: 2.05 million hectares The Hewitt family have been pastoralists in Queensland for generations and the clan still controls numerous land holdings across the Australian state, as well as in the Northern Territory and New South Wales. The family’s extensive portfolio includes 16 holdings including the recently-purchased Narwietooma aggregation of 1,108,200 hectares. This new acquisition nearly doubled the family's land ownership to 2.05 million hectares.Joint 22. Brett Blundy: 2.4 million hectares Australian retail entrepreneur Brett Blundy has amassed an epic portfolio of land over the past few years, including the supersized Walhallow Cattle Station in the Northern Territory, which he acquired in 2015 for $77 million (£58m). His BBRC Beef company owns about 2.4 million hectares in total.Joint 22. Mondi Group shareholders: 2.4 million hectares One of the world's leading packaging and paper production companies, the South Africa-based Mondi Group manages 2.4 million hectares of forest in South Africa and Russia.23. Morgan and Wells families: 2.1 million hectares The Morgan and Wells families together own 2.1 million hectares of land along the border of South Australia and New South Wales. Their Mutooroo Pastoral Company was established in 1868 and manages five cattle stations including Quinyambie, which alone comprises 2.1 million hectares.24. Lee family: 1.75 million hectares The Lee family owns Australian Country Choice, one of Queensland's biggest and most successful farming firms. The company operates 42 properties in the state, which amount to almost 1.75 million hectares altogether.25. McMillan family: 1.6 million hectares In April 2020 the McMillan Pastoral Company agreed to buy Wollogorang Station and Wentworth Station from Chinese billionaire Ma Xingfa, who had acquired the holdings in 2015. The deal cost A$53 million ($41m/£30m) and boosted the McMillan family’s portfolio by almost 706,000 hectares. In their second acquisition that year the McMillans then purchased Roxborough Downs and Mudgerebar Station, adding another 420,000 hectares. The family already owned Calvert Hills Station in the Cloncurry region of Queensland, which they acquired for A$15 million ($11.6m/£8.5m) in 2013, bringing their total land to around 1.6 million hectares.26. Acton family: 1.58 million hectares The sprawling cattle business founded by the late Australian cattle baron Graeme Acton (pictured) is now owned by his family. The Acton Land and Cattle Company owned 1.58 million hectares when the Queenslander passed away in 2014, and the family has since formed Australian Cattle and Beef Holdings in a joint venture with the Lee family, who feature later in this round-up. Acton was well-known for his involvement in the Australian sport of campdrafting, where a horse and rider work cattle. But sadly it was this sport that led to his death after he fell from a horse during a competition and sustained severe injuries.Joint 30. Irving family: 1.3 million hectares Thanks to the 513,057 hectares it owns in the US the Canadian Irving family is the sixth-largest landowner in America. However, the lumber divison of Irving also owns around 800,000 hectares of private timberlands across New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, for a total of at least 1.3 million hectares.Joint 30. McBride family: 1.3 million hectares Robert McBride and his family own and operate a slew of wool-producing businesses in Australia and account for an important part of the wool industry in the country. All in all, the family says it controls 1.3 million hectares of land Down Under.Joint 30. Bill Gunn: 1.3 million hectares The son of the late Australian wool baron Sir William Gunn, Bill Gunn is the founder and majority shareholder in the Gunn Agri Partners trust, which runs several large-scale cattle stations across Australia totalling around 1.3 million hectares. Joint 30. Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest: 1.3 million hectares One of Australia’s richest people with a fortune of $20.4 billion (£13.8bn), according to Forbes, mining legend Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest has significant livestock farming interests. After purchasing another two stations at a cost of A$30 million ($23.2m/£17m) in 2020, Forrest's total holdings amount to 1.3 million hectares.31. Menegazzo family: 1.2 million+ hectares Stanbroke runs seven huge cattle stations in Queensland making the firm one of the largest in the Australian farming sector. The company is controlled by the children of the late founder, grain king Peter Menegazzo, who was killed in a plane crash alongside his wife Angela in 2005. Menegazzo's sudden death caused divides in the family, with his children embroiled in courtroom dramas around their inheritance over a decade later.32. Rallen Australia: 1.1 million hectares Backed by one of South Africa’s richest people, Giovanni Ravazzotti, Rallen Australia is becoming a prominent player in the world of Australian landownership. In February 2020 the company acquired two major cattle stations, Tanumbirini and Forrest Hill, at a cost of A$70 million ($51.5m/£39). The stations stretch across more than 550,000 hectares making up a significant portion of Rallen's portfolio, which also includes Larrizona, Kalala, Mount McMinn and Big River stations. Rallen currently owns around 1.1 million hectares of land, with an eye to acquire more in the next decade, as reported by Financial Review.33. Matte family: 1.1 million+ hectares Chilean forestry company CMPC has more than 1.1 million hectares in Chile, Argentina and Brazil through its subsidiary, Forestal Mininco. The firm is owned by the late founder Eliodoro Matte's three billionaire children, including son Jorge (pictured).34. Linnik brothers: 1.047 million hectares Viktor Linnik (pictured right, with former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev) and his brother Aleksandr Linnik own the leading Russian meat producer and exporter Miratorg. In 2021 the company controlled just 1.047 million hectares across the country, according to Large Scale Agriculture.Joint 36. New Forests shareholders: 1 million+ hectares Investors in Australian sustainable timber company New Forests, which include Japan's Mitsui & Co., ultimately own the firm's property holdings. These comprise more than 1 million hectares of forest in Australia, New Zealand, parts of Asia and the USA.Joint 36. Brinkworth family: 1 million+ hectares This moneyed Australian family owns and operates more than a million hectares of land Down Under, according to The Weekly Times. Patriarch Tom Brinkworth died in August 2020 at the age of 83, leaving his wife Patricia and remaining family in control of around 100 holdings, from small farms to epic stretches of pasture that stretch as far as the eye can see. This equates to more than one million hectares of land in Australia, of which 250,000 are in the southeast.Joint 39. Alibi Agro shareholders: 1 million hectares Back to Kazakhstan and its vast steppe, Alibi Agro is the country's largest landowner. The agriculture business is co-owned by Nurlan Tleubayev and Zhangeldy Mukhakhanov and stretches across a million hectares for the production of grain and flour. Joint 39. King Mswati III: 1 million hectares Africa's largest landowner is none other than King Mswati III of Eswatini, the country formerly known as Swaziland. The absolute ruler is the official owner of 60% of the country’s land, which adds up to around one million hectares. Around 70% of the people who live in Eswatini live on land owned by the king, and through appointed officials he has the ability to evict any citizen without having to support or compensate them in any way.Joint 39. Kerry Stokes: 1 million hectares Chairman of Australia's TV network Seven, Kerry Stokes is passionate about agriculture as well as media. He currently owns around a million hectares of farmland in Western and South Australia, after selling one of his properties on Kangaroo Island in 2019.40. Ruslan Moldabekov and the EBRD: around 1 million hectares KazExportAstyk Holding is one of the largest agricultural producers in the Commonwealth of Independent States and has around one million hectares of land in Kazakhstan. The company is owned by Kazakhstani doctor Ruslan Moldabekov (pictured) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which provided a $35 million (£26.7m) loan to maintain and expand work across the land.41. Romeo Roxas: 965,000+ hectares Filipino banker and property mogul Romeo Roxas has built a formidable real estate portfolio in Australia, which includes the 560,000-hectare Murray Downs Station and the 265,000-hectare Epenarra Station. Roxas already had significant agricultural interests in Australia including more than 60,000 hectares in New South Wales, as well as the 80,000 hectares across the districts of Aurora and Quezon in the Philippines, bringing the property mogul’s portfolio to more than 965,000 hectares.42. Emmerson family: 942,917 hectares The Emmerson family, which runs one of America's largest lumber producers, Sierra Pacific Industries, is the largest private landowner in the United States. In total, the family owns 942,917 hectares of forested land in California, Washington and Oregon.43. Scott Harris and family: 933,000+ hectares Scott Harris has hit the Australian headlines time and time again for his controversial plans to clear thousands of hectares of bushland to expand his agricultural portfolio. Harris had permission to clear 58,000 of his enormous 931,000-hectare Strathmore Station in 2015 but came under fire for threatening animal habitats and damaging wetland in what was one of the country’s biggest single land clearings. Harris also owns Kingvale Station, where he's sought permission to clear 1,800 hectares of land. This plan was rejected due to the plot's proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. 44. Angelini family: 919,500 hectares South America's largest landowner, Chile's Forestal Arauco (CELCO) owns plantations in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The heirs of the late Anacleto Angelini are the majority shareholders in the firm, which sold off 80,500 hectares of land to foreign investors in May last year. The purchase leaves the company with around 919,500 hectares of land. 45. Benetton family: 900,000 hectares The family-owned Italian retailer is Argentina's largest private landowner with 900,000 hectares of land in Patagonia. However, these lands have also been claimed by the indigenous Mapuche people, according to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. The Benettons claimed to be unaware of this when they purchased the land in the 1990s.46. Igor Khudokormov: 892,200 hectares Russian tycoon Igor Khudokormov is the country's second-largest landowner The multi-millionaire controls sugar producer Prodimex and crop producer Agrokultura, which occupy a combined 892,200 hectares. 47. John Malone: 890,308 hectares The second-largest private landowner in the US, according to the 2021 Land Report 100, Liberty Media's John Malone owns 890,308 hectares of land in America. The tycoon, who has a net worth of $7.5 billion (£5.7bn), controls mammoth tracts of forested land in Maine, as well as ranches in Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado.48. The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America and College Retirement Equities Fund: 850,000 hectares The Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America and College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA CREF) has been named as the biggest global investor in agriculture by AgJournal, owning 850,000 hectares worldwide. A large portion of that land is in Australia, where TIAA CREF owns 286,000 hectares.49. Reed family: 849,840 hectares Dating back to 1890, the Reed family's Green Diamond Resource Company owns nearly 850,000 hectares of land in eight states across the US's Pacific Northwest and south, according to the 2021 Land Report. The Reeds are all about sustainable forestry and conservation, pledging to harvest just 2% of their timberland every year.50. Olzha Agro: 840,000 hectares Olzha, formerly known as Ivolga-Holding, is another Kazakhstani agriculture company taking up huge amounts of land. It is estimated to operate across 840,000 hectares, according to Large Scale Agriculture. However, this is a decrease from its previous holdings of 1.5 million hectares in both Kazakhstan and Russia, many of which the firm lost in a 2016 bankruptcy.