After shopping spree, Mormon church is Nebraska’s top land purchaser

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Becomes Top Land Purchaser in Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. (Flatwater Free Press, Destiny Herbers) — Early in the summer of 2018, a nonprofit few Nebraskans have heard of bought a 22,613-acre chunk of land in Garden County.

The next year, the nonprofit, tied to a P.O. Box in Salt Lake City, picked up another 3,331 acres of county land, buying it from a Colorado investment company.

The unknown nonprofit grabbed two more pieces of county land on the same day in March 2020, adding 10,278 acres to its mushrooming total.

Then, two years later, it added still more land in this rural Nebraska county tucked between Chimney Rock and Lake McConaughy.

Before anyone really knew it, the nonprofit owned most of northern Garden County.

Not even the assessor could calculate the nonprofit’s total acres, an employee in the Garden County Assessor’s Office said.  The organization simply owns too many parcels, through too many sales, for county officials to comb through the records.

“You’ll have to ask Farmland Reserve Inc.,” she said politely before hanging up the phone.

The Church’s Land Purchases and Sustainable Development Goals

Farmland Reserve Inc., a nonprofit owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church, has been quietly buying up ranch land in Nebraska’s Sandhills for the past three decades.

The Garden County shopping spree, coupled with more buys in four neighboring counties, made the church Nebraska’s top single buyer of land in the past five years.

The church bought a whopping 57,500 acres – double the amount of the second largest buyer– between 2018 and 2022, according to a Flatwater Free Press analysis of data gathered by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications data journalism class.

The Mormon Church now owns about 370,000 total acres of zoned agricultural land in Nebraska. It could soon become Nebraska’s largest landowner – passing Ted Turner, who has famously long occupied that No. 1 spot – if church representatives continue to buy land at their current pace.

How much land is 370,000 acres? It’s almost exactly the total amount of land in Douglas and Sarpy counties combined.

Farmland Reserve Inc. and Church Ownership

Farmland Reserve Inc., a nonprofit owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been quietly buying up ranch land in Nebraska’s Sandhills for the past three decades. The Garden County shopping spree, coupled with more buys in four neighboring counties, made the church Nebraska’s top single buyer of land in the past five years.

The church sees its land buys as a force for good, an investment in agriculture “to generate long-term value to support the Church’s religious, charitable, and humanitarian good works,” said a Farmland Reserve spokesman.

The nonprofit owned by the church pays property taxes like any other ag producer in the state, and state and federal income taxes, too, the spokesman noted – though an unknown amount of revenue is given to the church itself, which doesn’t have to pay taxes on passive investments.

The Nebraska Farmers Union sees the church as another out-of-state corporation that arrives, drives up prices and makes buying harder for smaller farmers.

“All of the land that the Mormon church owns is land that individuals in Nebraska do not have the opportunity to own,” President John Hansen said.

Church’s Land Holdings and Financial Transparency

Unlike other nonprofits in the U.S., religious organizations don’t have to publicly report their income or assets, including real estate. The church has never given a total accounting of their properties, in Nebraska or globally, while amassing a fortune exceeding $100 billion.

“Even for those of us who follow the church closely, we’re in the dark when it comes to specific church financial information,” said Patrick Mason, professor of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University.

But watchdog groups have made estimates by identifying church-owned companies, often through registered addresses.

An early 2020 nationwide analysis of real estate holdings connected to the Mormon church by Truth and Transparency found about 365,000 acres of land zoned for agriculture in Nebraska. The Flatwater Free Press analysis of county assessor records shows that the church continued to add acres at a slower pace in 2021 and 2022.

Farmland Reserve Inc. confirmed that it is currently ranching on about 365,000 acres in the Sandhills. The church doesn’t plan to continue expanding its ranching operation, the spokesman said, but it may buy row crop land to lease to local farmers.

The Nebraska land is just one slice of the 1.7 million acres of American real estate the Mormon church is now estimated to own.

Layers of Church Business and Land Ownership

The Salt Lake Tribune estimates that the church’s investment holdings exceed $160 billion.

Truth and Transparency’s co-founder, Ethan Gregory Dodge, believes it owns at least another $100 billion in U.S. real estate.

Combined, the church’s estimated wealth equals the net worth of roughly two Warren Buffetts.

The church uses both nonprofit and for-profit subsidiary corporations to manage its business operations under a variety of names.

Sam Brunson, professor of nonprofit tax law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and a member of the church, said that as best he can tell, a description of the structure is not public anywhere.

“The church is remarkably untransparent about its finances,” Brunson said.

The church likely originally purchased land in Nebraska through its nonprofit, Farmland Reserve Inc., to use a loophole in a Nebraska law that once banned for-profit corporations – but not nonprofits – from owning farmland in Nebraska, Brunson said.

Why did that law, Initiative 300, allow the Mormon church such an easy workaround?

“You can only slay so many dragons with one swing of the sword,” said Hansen, who helped put Initiative 300 into place.

Initiative 300 was ruled unconstitutional in 2007. By that point, the church had already purchased more than 200,000 acres of Nebraska ag land under Farmland Reserve Inc.

AgReserves Inc., a for-profit corporation also owned by the church, now manages ranches on Farmland Reserve land in Nebraska.

Church

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Analysis

1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

• SDG 1: No Poverty
• SDG 2: Zero Hunger
• SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 15: Life on Land

The issues highlighted in the article include land ownership, agricultural investment, and the impact on local farmers. These issues are connected to the SDGs mentioned above, which aim to address poverty, hunger, economic growth, inequality, and sustainable land use.

2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

• Target 1.4: By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular, the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership, and control over land and other forms of property.
• Target 2.3: By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular, women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists, and fishers.
• Target 8.10: Strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance, and financial services for all.
• Target 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic or other status.
• Target 15.2: By 2020, promote the implementation of sustainable management of all types of forests, halt deforestation, restore degraded forests, and substantially increase afforestation and reforestation globally.

These targets are relevant to the issues discussed in the article, as they focus on ensuring equal rights to land and resources, improving agricultural productivity and incomes, promoting financial inclusion, reducing inequalities, and promoting sustainable land management.

3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

Yes, the article provides some indicators that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets:

• Land ownership by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: This can be an indicator to measure progress towards Target 1.4, as it reflects the ownership and control over land and other forms of property.
• Amount of agricultural land purchased by the church: This can be an indicator to measure progress towards Target 2.3, as it reflects the investment in agricultural resources and its impact on small-scale food producers.
• Number of acres owned by the church: This can be an indicator to measure progress towards Target 15.2, as it reflects the extent of land management and its impact on forests and land use.

These indicators provide quantitative measures that can be used to assess progress towards the identified targets.

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators Table

Behold! This splendid article springs forth from the wellspring of knowledge, shaped by a wondrous proprietary AI technology that delved into a vast ocean of data, illuminating the path towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Remember that all rights are reserved by SDG Investors LLC, empowering us to champion progress together.

Source: klkntv.com

Join us, as fellow seekers of change, on a transformative journey at https://sdgtalks.ai/welcome, where you can become a member and actively contribute to shaping a brighter future.