No. 60 Cogdell Family

160,000 acres

D.M. Cogdell Sr. began ranching in Texas in the early 1900s, and his sons D.M. Junior and Billy continued his legacy. Today the best-known portion of the empire they created is the 160,000-acre Tule Ranch in the Texas Panhandle, which belongs to Billy’s children.

No. 60 Leo Drey Foundation

160,000 acres

St. Louis businessman and conservationist Leo Drey accumulated large swaths of forestland in Missouri in an effort to protect and preserve them from clear-cutting. Today much of that land owned by the not-for-profit L-A-D Foundation, after Drey donated the fee titles.

No. 62 Fanjul Family

155,000 acres

The Fanjul family owns the largest organic farm in Florida. Its privately owned Florida Crystals practices the highest standards of sustainable agriculture in growing its crops of sugar cane, rice, and corn in rotation. “Sustainable farming is of the utmost importance, because the cornerstone of successful farming is protecting the land,” says Chairman and CEO Alfonso Fanjul.

No. 63 Hearst Family

153,000 acres

The Hearst family’s ranches include the Piedra Blanca Rancho (upon which sits the famous Hearst Castle) and the Jack Ranch, both in California. The ranches have become known for exclusively grass-fed beef, and practice well-managed grazing in order to preserve the condition of the coastal prairie and native grasslands.

No. 64 Ellison Family

152,000 acres

Ellison Ranching Company was established in 1910 and celebrated its centennial last year. The family’s holdings include a number of Nevada ranches, including the Spanish Ranch, where headquarters are located, and the 71 Ranch.

No. 65 Bass Family

150,000 acres

Family patriarch Sid Richardson was a larger-than-life character whose immense fortune earned him the nickname “The Billionaire Bachelor.” Richardson’s great-nephews — Bob, Ed, Lee, and Sid — are similarly talented. Although they are based in Fort Worth, their holdings are far-flung.

No. 65 Emily Garvey Bonavia

150,000 acres

Emily Garvey Bonavia and the family’s Nevada First Corporation have ranching and timber operations in Nevada and Oregon. Conservation of the land is always top of mind, says Nevada First President Gary Bengochea.

No. 65 Boswell Family

150,000 acres

The family’s J.G. Boswell Company has vast cropland in California, most of which is used to grow cotton and tomatoes. Smaller crops include wheat, sunflowers, and safflowers. CEO James W. Boswell represents the third generation of family leadership.

No. 65 Eddy Family

150,000 acres

The family-owned Port Blakely Companies owns and manages operations in forestry, real estate, and forest products exports.  The Pacific Northwest firm’s history reaches back over a century. In the past year, a new generation assumed leadership. Fourth-generation family member René Ancinas became CEO and is eager and committed to carrying forward the company’s legacy for future generations.

No. 65 William Henry Green Heirs

150,000 acres

The family’s historic Green Ranch, headquartered in Albany, Texas, is a working cattle ranch still run by descendants of founder William Henry Green. The Green Ranch is known for its outstanding remuda as well as its cow-calf and stocker cattle operations.

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No. 50 Bogle Family

192,000 acres

Family patriarch Hal Bogle assembled an impressive collection of farms and ranches in the Southwest, and his family has continued his legacy through parent company Bogle Ltd. In addition to farming cropland, there is a respected cattle ranching operation and Quarter Horse program.

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Eye on the Market: Dean Saunders has chaired the Florida Real Estate Commission, is certified as an Accredited Land Consultant (ALC), and was awarded the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation in 2010. The Land Report asked one of the country’s leading land brokers for his take on current market conditions.

You’ve got a long history on the land. You’re a sixth-generation Floridian with deep roots in agriculture. What keeps you going?
I love what I do. I love the people I work with. I love getting outside and looking at land. Every day I wake up, I can’t wait to get going. It’s fun, and I get paid to do it.

When you were in the Florida Legislature, you helped craft key conservation legislation. Can that work as an investment angle?
Definitely. I’ve got one client, a rancher, whose primary investment has been land over the last 15 years, he’s tripled his acreage by skillful use of conservation easements.

What’s the strategy?
He buys a piece of land for farming, hay, sod, and cattle. Then he sells a conservation easement. With the proceeds, he buys another piece of property and starts the whole process over again.

Who are your foreign investors?
It wasn’t too long ago that we had a bunch of Venezuelans trying to get their money out ahead of Chavez. Today’s market is primarily influenced by Canadians, Brits, some Germans, as well as South Americans.

Are they all about farmland?
Seems like everyone is, right? I’m a member of the realtors land institute, and a lot of my buddies in the Midwest and the Delta have seen land prices triple these past few years. A big part of that is commodity pricing, but there’s also the market. Investors are also looking for a safe haven for their money. You can’t earn anything from banks. The stock market is so volatile. But if you buy the right piece of land at the right price, you can generate a 5 percent return from cash rents. Rising commodity prices mean farmers can pay higher cash rents. This increases the value of the land. So people are buying farmland as fast as they can find it.

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No. 40 David Murdock

238,138 acres

Self-made billionaire David Murdock’s privately owned Castle & Cooke owns 98 percent the Hawaiian island of Lanai, and his Dole Food Company owns significant acreage on the island of Oahu. He has additional farms, orchards, and a ranch in California to round out his portfolio. The 88-year-old reportedly does an hour of exercise daily and maintains a strict diet. He has donated more than $500 million to fund scientific research on diet, nutrition, and health.

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No. 37 Paul Fireman

247,000 acres

Former Reebok chairman and CEO (and current Fireman Capital Partners chairman) Paul Fireman owns one of the largest ranching operations in the West. The Winecup-Gamble Ranch in Nevada has permitted grazing access to almost 750,000 acres. Add to that the ranch’s deeded acreage and the total is just under 1 million acres. In addition to cattle, the Winecup-Gamble also has geothermal hot springs and renowned elk hunting. Previous owners of the Winecup-Gamble include actor James Stewart and former Nevada Governor John Sparks.

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No. 21 Anne Marion

365,000 acres

The president of Burnett Ranches Ltd., Anne Marion owns the Four Sixes Ranches in the Texas Panhandle and Montana. The great-granddaughter of the ranch’s founder, Captain Samuel “Burk” Burnett, takes an active role in managing the operations. The 6666 is known for its Quarter Horse stallions and its Angus cattle.

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This cowboy’s sweetheart is a fourth-generation New Mexico rancher who still loves to ride, rope, and patch up cowboys and Boy Scouts.

Linda Davis is one cowgirl who rarely gets the blues. This hands-on landowner and her late husband, Les, devoted their lives to their family, the livestock industry, and the CS Ranch, their historic cattle operation on the eastern edge of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Northern New Mexico.

A New Mexico native, Linda was raised on the Tequesquite Ranch, which was established by her great-grandfather in the 1870s. Beginning in 1930 her father, Albert Mitchell, ran the famed Bell Ranch. [Liberty Media chair John Malone acquired the Bell in 2010. See Land Report Fall 2010.] After the untimely death of her mother, Linda began to buddy up with certain cowboys who worked on the Bell, especially the wagon crew and some of the bronc busters.

At the same time that the Mitchells were settling the Tequesquite in the late 1800s, a lawyer and newspaperman named Frank Springer started stockpiling land for what would ultimately become the 127,500-acre CS Ranch. [See Land Report 100.] Young Linda met her match when Ed Springer introduced a Dartmouth alum named Les Davis to Albert Mitchell. The idea was for Davis to see how the Tequesquite was run. Davis was Springer’s nephew, and, in 1953, he became Linda’s husband.

That same year, Linda received an associate degree in agricultural economics from Cornell. “Cornell had the leading ag economics program in the United States at that time. It was after the war ended, and times were changing so rapidly. The global food economy was the main part of the course lineup,” she says.

More recently, Linda was certified as an emergency medical technician (EMT). No doubt she received this care-giving streak from her mother, herself a pioneer in public health nursing in New Mexico. Growing up, I was the only female around. I did everything, including patching up cowboys. Then I married a rancher and moved to another isolated area 60 miles from a hospital.”

Linda is on standby 24/7 with the Cimarron ambulance service. She often tends to young Scouts and other visitors to the Philmont Scout Ranch. “You have to be dedicated and ready to drop everything. I carry a radio all the time,” she says.

Linda is a founding member of the Annie Oakley Society and was honored by the National Ranching Heritage Center with its prestigious Golden Spur award. “It was a significant honor, and I’m very proud of it,” she says.

“I still ride and still work with the crew,” she adds. “It’s a way of life. I’m a fourth-generation rancher.” Linda has several nephews and one niece at Tequesquite Ranch, and her six grown children, eight grandchildren, and one great grandchild were predestined to share her love of the land. “They’re all involved and live in the general area around here. We’re a family-owned working ranch.”

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Readers of the current issue of The Land Report will learn how the Oklahoma native has applied this same goal-oriented approach to revitalizing his beloved Mesa Vista Ranch. It wasn’t too long ago that the 68,000 acres he currently owns in the Texas Panhandle was essentially overgrazed cattle country. But with keen foresight and plenty of stewardship, he was able to nurture and develop a quail hunting property that is without peer nationwide.

Enjoy this issue’s cover story: a tour of the Mesa Vista Ranch featuring text by Ray Sasser as well as breathtaking photography by the State Photographer of Texas, Wyman Meinzer.

In addition to this Land Report exclusive, the winter issue also includes an opportunity to review The Land Report Top Ten, featuring the nation’s leading listings. Another must-read article is the story of Taylor’s Trees, which many have already perused at Land Report.com.

Click HERE to access the digital version of the issue online or type in the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/864drcz

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No. 18 Phillip Anschutz

434,493 acres

Although fiercely private, Phillip Anschutz has made his name known in a wide variety of industries thanks to his unerring business acumen. In addition to owning sizable and successful ranching operations such as the Overland Trail Cattle Company in Wyoming, his Anschutz Corporation has worldwide investments in energy exploration and production, real estate, ranching and agriculture, telecommunications, newspapers, and Internet publishing. And his Anschutz Entertainment Group, the world’s largest owner and operator of sports and entertainment venues, recently made news by announcing a new NFL stadium deal in Los Angeles.

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No. 5  Irving Family

1,200,000 acres

In 1882, J.D. Irving began a business that now employs 15,000 throughout Eastern Canada and the U.S.  J.D. Irving, Limited has invested in biomass energy, a clean, renewable natural resource, at one of its paper mills. It’s also moved to replace heavy oil with natural gas on its Cavendish Farms, and even to reduce greenhouse emissions at its headquarters. The family’s Irving Woodlands company is all about forestry. Since its founding in Maine over 60 years ago, this division has made great strides in stewardship and in reducing its carbon footprint. In addition, the family company continues its tradition of planting trees. Over the past 50 years, it has planted over 827 million of them. This year alone, J.D. Irving will plant some 28 million seedlings in its forests.

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