Trading Farmland for Data Centers

Is anyone else as shocked, or perhaps disgusted, as I am that our elected representatives are allowing so much of this country's farmland to be repurposed for data centers and commercial development? To make matters worse, they are giving millions of dollars in tax breaks to these corporations, which in turn drives up residential property taxes.

Something needs to change, and perhaps the way to get more people fired up and attract our politicians' attention is to frame this issue as one of national defense. So, how about this…

What if a part of our national security policy were centered around feeding the world? The United States has some of the best farmland on the planet. Instead of preserving this land to ensure that Americans, and marginalized populations globally, do not go hungry, we continue to pave it over, repurpose it for non-agricultural commercial ventures like data centers, and rezone it to accommodate urban sprawl.

Growing and exporting more food instead of building bombs doesn’t seem radical to me; it sounds like common sense. With the emergence of drones, which are effective and relatively inexpensive to construct, they serve as a great equalizer between superpowers and smaller countries that might adopt authoritarian regimes. While not every country has the capability to produce food, the U.S. does. If we view food as a valuable tool for maintaining our national security and promoting global peace, we should prioritize its production. We can't grow food on concrete and asphalt.

Currently, the U.S. imports about 15-20% of its food; however, this percentage is significantly higher in certain categories, including seafood at 70-95%, fresh fruit at 55-60%, and fresh vegetables at 30%. Notably, the U.S. does not import meat, livestock, or poultry. For 60 years, the U.S. agricultural trade balance was positive until 2019, when it turned negative. By 2023, imports exceeded exports by $21 billion.

A practice that has historically strengthened democracy worldwide is soft power—methods aimed at preventing authoritarian takeovers by helping disadvantaged groups bolster their communities through access to food and medication. If we fail to do this, authoritarian groups will fill the void, claiming they can provide food and meet everyday needs. The promise of food is a powerful tool when used for the greater good. People can only begin to contemplate how they want to live, including whether self-governing democracies are their preferred future, once their basic needs are met.

The COVID-19 pandemic shocked many Americans, leaving grocery shelves empty for the first time. Imagine how quickly a community could descend into violence when food and clean water are unavailable—this could happen in days, if not hours. Does anyone remember what happened after hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans years ago? It wasn't pretty.

According to the American Farmland Trust, we lose approximately 2,000 acres of farmland each day, totaling tens of millions of acres over the last century. Today, only 876 million acres remain. While new technologies have enabled farmers to produce greater yields on fewer acres, much of this land is used for corn and soybeans, primarily exported for livestock feed. Moreover, once farmland is paved over, it becomes compacted and rarely returns to its original agricultural state without significant remediation and the addition of compost and nutrients.

Now, we are losing even more farmland to data centers. These massive facilities require hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of acres to be built on. Data centers are essential for the rise of generative AI, necessitating substantial computing power and specialized servers, which in turn require significant amounts of electricity. Traditional servers cannot handle these new workloads, necessitating entirely new power grids and cooling systems. The absence of a balanced regulatory system means tech giants worldwide are competing in ways that undermine the environment. Currently, businesses prefer building data centers across vast areas because it's cheaper than constructing vertically. Our government has not established policies requiring these data centers to be power- and water-independent or self-sustaining. While more research and development are needed to create viable new construction methods, businesses will not make these changes without regulations aimed at the common good—We the People.

My concern over the environment and farmland isn't unique, and I certainly don’t have all the answers. However, we must stop sacrificing our farmland for data centers and other commercial developments. This is not a zero-sum game; it is a profit-driven game. The fact that we import food in the United States is simply wrong.

So, here we are in 2026, and not protecting farmland is not an option for Americans today and future generations. And the answer, once again, is that We the People must ensure our elected officials represent our needs rather than corporate profits. After all, corporations already receive tax breaks that the average American does not, and this must end.

Artificial Intelligence marks a significant shift in human history, and it's not going away. AI will change everything, and everyone will be affected—some positively, and some negatively. However, I firmly believe that delivering food across our country and to vulnerable populations worldwide is far preferable to sending Patriot missiles. We need to expand our understanding of effective national defense systems beyond the current “shock and awe” approach. We must demand regulations to curb data center resource consumption and policies that prevent further loss of farmland to commercial development.

Let our voices be heard! And, I thank farmers for the dinner I'll have tonight, tomorrow, and for years to come.