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| Data centers can devastate nearby farmlands by depleting a regions aquifer. (Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange) |
Lands across Indiana's farm belt have "become an especial target for hyperscale facilities," reports Lela Nargi for Offrange. The battle within the state, both for and against land sales for data centers, is "illustrative of the challenges that farmers in particular are up against."
The per-acre land payments, often in the thousands, that data center developers are paying to some farmland owners are part of the problem for active farmers. When developers pay more than market value for properties, overall property taxes rise, leaving farmers struggling to pay them.
Currently, there are roughly 40 data center proposals for land throughout Indiana. Kiley Blalock, a third-generation Indiana farmer, is "fighting a proposed 585-acre data center that abuts some of her farmland in Henry County," Nargi writes. "The facility would be built on land sold by the property’s non-farming heirs — no one knows for how much."
Even if a data center is built on uncontested property, the resources it will inevitably require can devastate surrounding farms. Data centers gobble vast amounts of electricity and water. "A hyperscale data center can use upwards of 8 million gallons of water per year, mostly for cooling its servers," Nargi explains.
Taking millions of gallons from a regional aquifer without any process to replace it could leave crops and cattle thirsty and cause local wells to run dry. Farmers fear a data center could render the surrounding farmland useless.
According to data center critics, data center developers haven't done much to address local fears beyond making promises that are "rarely backed up in clear, detailed, contractual writing," Nargi reports.
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