07/31/2026
Born and raised Carter Countian here. I also just happen to now be dipping my toes into true agricultural growth on our family farm. Since we are coming up on more talk of data centers in Carter County, I’ll weigh in on thoughts as someone whose land could be impacted…. After all, 90 acres of rolling hills might look real good when they want to land grab (over my dead body).
I am not anti-technology and I’m not anti-machine learning, but current AI technologies by the major players, are dangerous.
I actually stopped exploring a farmland management tool because they couldn’t provide me with a clear impact statement on their AI use. This particular company did tell me that they are working on getting vendors who are environmentally focused and are looking at ways to generate data that is less harmful to communities. I told them that once those vendors are secured, and the impact statements and other literature is made available, I’d revisit their product. Because honestly what they’re building is exactly what I need as a team of myself and my husband (plus Scott Ritchie, who does so much and we love and appreciate him so much).
But we aren’t there yet folks! Once these farms are gone or these communities are gone and they’re replaced with these giant data centers… that’s it. They’re there to stay. We can talk about whether or not they use water or they use oil or they make noise or not all day long, but the fact is they don’t benefit the communities that they’re in. They don’t make jobs or bring in money the community has access to. No matter what way you slice it. They only take.
No amount of rules and regulations are going to keep our community safe if we let these organizations come in and build. We see it all the time in every other industry, made corrupt by billions of dollars flowing from a handful of people. I say, what does it hurt to be the holdout? We can always revisit opening up communications for AI data centers again in the future, when they’ve proven that they are trustworthy and will stand on business. 
I would encourage you if you’re someone who feels the AI is the future and that you want to see it succeed, check out organizations that are working on ways to make AI greener. This is what’s gonna allow our systems to continue to progress without robbing our communities of water, wildlife, and possibly livestock. 
Here’s an article from this year focusing on ag related concerns for data centers.
https://www.agdaily.com/livestock/ranchers-are-watching-the-data-center-boom-with-growing-concern
Here are couple of other possibly helpful items for folks interested in reducing their footprint and impact.
AI that is backed by energy saving measures (runs Claude, ChatGPT, and others and matches funds to energy efficiency projects) - I don’t believe that this is a totally perfect solution, but if you’re someone who uses these products, this is a better solution! https://ai.viro.app
This is a bank of tools, resources, and peer reviewed literature on the subject to help people make more informed decisions about their AI use:
 https://github.com/ejhusom/green-ai
If you’re someone who read this whole thing and thought, I don’t understand a lick of what was said here or any other things in these resources, please send me a DM! I am not the most literate in these spaces, but I have a science degree and I understand some of it, and I also know some other people who can help us understand more and make even better decisions together as a community.
I want my farm to succeed, not only for myself, but for our entire community. I want to be able to hire on people at a living wage in our county with good benefits. I want to be able to stand on my values and principles as both someone who deeply cares about the values that shape me and also continue a legacy that is larger than myself. I am not in this for me and husband alone, I want our farm to be a place of enjoyment, community commitment, and have the ability to give back.  And I know a lot of other farmers in the area probably feel really similarly. But we can’t do that if there’s no farms to protect or run or hire for.
Saying no to data centers in our community is not anti-AI, and I fully believe it is, at this point in time, the smart decision until we have more information that allows us to make a better choice in the future.
