Data Centers Bring Growth Pressures to Farm Country

Data center growth is increasingly shifting towards rural areas across the United States, presenting both opportunities for new tax revenue and infrastructure investment, and significant challenges for agriculture. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), thousands of data centers are now active or under construction, drawn to rural locations by available land, strong transmission access, and potentially more flexible local zoning. This expansion, however, puts direct pressure on core farm resources. The AFBF highlights that farmland conversion to data center sites is often permanent, while these large facilities also increase demands on local power grids and water supplies. States like Texas and Virginia are experiencing leading data center development, which can drive up speculative land values and make it harder for farmers to acquire or rent land at agricultural prices. The organization emphasizes the importance of balanced policy, careful site selection, and early community engagement to support both agricultural interests and responsible data center growth, ensuring that land and resource decisions consider long-term productivity.