'I'm Not for Sale': Farmers Refuse Million-Dollar Offers as Data Centers Devour Rural America
Even as a fragile farm economy makes million-dollar buyout offers tempting, a growing number of American farmers are refusing to sell their land to tech companies hungry for data center sites. The standoff pits Silicon Valley's insatiable appetite for computing power — driven by the AI boom's enormous energy and real estate demands — against rural communities determined to preserve their agricultural heritage and way of life. With data center construction exploding across the heartland, the tension between technological expansion and the stewardship of America's farmland is becoming one of the defining land-use battles of the decade.
Read Full Story at Ars TechnicaThe earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
— Psalm 24:1
These farmers understand something Silicon Valley does not: the land is not merely a commodity to be bought and sold for server racks. It is a trust — passed down through generations and ultimately belonging to the One who made it.