By Dennis Kenning
Data Centers what is the real cost?

If you have been watching the news or reading articles you know that one of the hottest topics has been the construction of large Data Centers. These centers are needed to support AI or Artificial Intelligence. I’m certainly not against technology if it improves our farm operation and life. It seems like there is plenty of money to develop these Data Centers. My question is, what are we willing to give up when we construct these centers and how much do we value our natural resources. What is the real cost of Data Centers?
First of all, how much do we value our water supply? Data Centers use huge amounts of water for the cooling of all that hardware. As a producer you know how important water is to your operation. In 2025 Data Centers consumed 10.9 billion gallons of water. According to the Environmental & Energy Institute, one large data center would consume five million gallons per day and these centers need that water around the clock. This is the amount of water a town of 50,000 people would consume. The water table in my own well has dropped significantly. Looking at a Natural Resource District Publication most water tables have been dropping each year. That’s a problem, when you’re using five million gallons a day. If you’re a producer you’re not allowed to drill a new irrigation well. If farmer wants an irrigation well forget it, but if a Data Center drills several wells, that’s ok? Remember Data Centers need their water for an entire year, while a farmer needs water during the summer months. If you’re traveling along I80 near 56th street in Lincoln you can see one of these Data Centers. It wasn’t that long ago when Lincoln had water restrictions and that city is constantly growing in size. My question is, what will you do when the water table drops. We have Natural Resource Districts monitoring wells levels, and water usage for farmers, but now it doesn’t matter how much water a Data Center uses.
Second, Data Centers require huge amounts of electrical power. According to a Solar Tech Publication a Data Center consumes 176 Terawatt hours or enough power for 16 million homes. Currently the US does not have enough power to meet those demands. We hear a lot about using Green Energy such as solar or wind to help power these Data Centers. The truth is that much of the energy will come from conventional sources such as coal or natural gas fired power plants, leading to carbon emissions.
Third, Data Centers require space, and will be located close to water and energy. Just look at that Data Center along I80 in Lincoln, it takes up land. They talk about some of the large Data Centers requiring 1,000 to 2,000 acres of land. We are already loosing 1.5 to 2 million acres each year to urban sprawl and residential expansion.
Finally, these Data Centers create noise pollution, backup generation exhaust and have a negative visual impact. Data Centers will also have a fair amount of E-waste resulting in hardware updates and heavy maintenance costs.
The good news is that Governor Pillen has signed an executive order ending tax incentives for Data Centers. The governor has formed a Data Center Task Force made up 17 members. The people on this task force are made up of leaders from big business, power suppliers, and construction companies with two Leaders from surrounding Natural Resource Districts. You know, sometimes committees are made up of people for a certain desired result. I hope that is not the case but sure wanted to see more Ag Leaders represented on this panel, after all, we are talking about water, land, and energy. I think it will be interesting to see how the Natural Resource Districts react to Data Centers, as I know the Upper Big Blue District has seen most of the water table levels decrease each year.
Honestly, I think in the future we will have Data Centers. Regardless of public opinion the government will railroad this issue through. The fact is that Data Centers use large amounts of water and energy plus take farmland out of production. I’m sure these Centers have their advantages, but keep in mind it’s not just the money, it’s our natural resources. I’m not sure I want to risk some of these most precious resources. What will be the real cost of Data Centers? Right or wrong that’s just how I see it, From My Side of the Fence.

Around the farm
Thanks be to the Lord for lots of rain. It’s funny how water can affect your attitude about farming. The crops really look great and there’s feed and pasture for the cattle. I also know things can all change in a blink of an eye. Its tuff making hay with rain but we also had the problems with high humidity and no wind for dry down. Harvest yields should be really good. Harvest may be a challenge if we keep getting moisture. What’s going on in the beef industry? Tyson foods have closed three beef plants and a fourth may be changing hands. As you know by now, the President has released 300,000 metric tons of ground beef tariff free into the US. They have reported that this would reduce the cost of hamburger by 25 cents per pound for the consumer. I don’t see that happening, you have just given a middle man a larger profit margin. The cattle market over reacts and price of live beef goes down. The administration claims that this will help build the beef herds. How does that work? The cattle look great and I’m glad I used the fly tags. I don’t see any pinkeye or watery eyes. It seems like our farms have had a rash of well problems. We have dug a new well on one farms and thankfully hit a good water vain. We have been able to reclaim a little more water in another well. A third well has a problem with the pipe and pump falling into the bottom of the well casing, so someone will be fishing. We were so lucky that we had good rains for ponds and dugouts. There’s lots of work to do going into the fall, with more hay to put up, silage to chop, cows coming home and then harvest is on. Remember there is just one of you, and you work in one of the most hazardous professions. Please be careful and have a safe and blessed harvest. Oh I almost forgot, we are always looking for additional pasture for our operation.
Until next time, may God Bless.