Can Data Centers Help Power Rural America’s Comeback?

About six months ago I started hearing rumblings of a data center coming to my rural county in east central Indiana. A friend messaged me and urged me to use my voice on social media to speak out against the project. “You have a big reach and you could really help the farmers, as it will affect all of us if they build this one in our county,” my friend said.

To be honest, the first thought that came to mind was at least it isn’t a subdivision. I didn’t even really know what a data center was, so I was weary of just speaking out on the subject with no expertise.

IBM defines data centers as “a physical room, building or facility that houses IT Infrastructure for building, running, and delivering applications and services. It also stores and manages the data associated with those applications and services.”

A Google search found many headlines highlighting the perils of these monstrosities plaguing communities: wells running dry, water usage that seemed unsustainable, rural areas decimated by greedy developers taking advantage of all us down-home folks “too uneducated” to fight back.

In many of those articles though, I didn’t like how journalists were painting us in their attempt to “protect” us from data center development. A lot of what I was reading didn’t sound like a warning or even reporting — it sounded like fear mongering.

And when has mainstream media ever done that, right? Cue the sarcastic snickering.

I then looked more into the history of data centers. If you pay attention to the media as of late, it would seem they are a relatively new development. However, I found the first data center was built in 1945 to house the ENIAC at the University of Pennsylvania. The dot com bubble of 1997-2000 saw a significant uptick in data center construction. The next couple of decades brought steady growth in the sector with another rise around 2021.

Then, this past January, President Donald Trump rolled out his plan for artificial intelligence development, which includes data centers.

In March, my wife and I attended a Cybersecurity and Food Security Conference, centered specifically around agriculture. I learned a lot about the increasing use of technology in agriculture and especially the need for security in our ever-evolving food systems.

I realized we are grossly behind China and other countries in developing this technology. In only a few years, China has surged ahead of the United States in the development and deployment of AI. They have not only outpaced us in research and innovation, but they have built the infrastructure to sustain that lead. Data centers, the beating heart of the AI industry, are multiplying on their soil, giving them the capacity to outproduce and outcompete us in one of the defining industries of the 21st century.

I knew we could not afford to fall behind. This is not merely an economic contest, it is a question of national strength, security, and independence. If we allow other nations to dominate the next great technological frontier, we risk surrendering the future itself.

Now, I know what some folks are thinking, because I did too: These are just big, ugly boxes filled with computers chewing up land and running our wells dry. And I’d be the first to sound the alarm if that was coming. But the truth is, these new data centers don’t take up nearly as much farmland as big box distribution warehouses, sprawling factories, and, my least favorite, subdivisions. These data centers typically get developed on a few hundred acres, not thousands (with the exception of some hyperscale projects), and they’re not belching smoke or filling up the roads with tractor-trailers all day.

As I looked at many of the headlines and stories being shared, it became clear that there were certainly issues rising around a few notable developments around the country, but not all data centers have those issues. Indeed, not all data centers are equal, and many are continually retrofitting to become increasingly sustainable.

Don Lamb, director of the Indiana Department of Agriculture, became a resource for me as I tried to understand the impact of data centers more thoroughly. Lamb is beyond a doubt someone who has both farmers and rural communities close to his heart and fights for them every day.

The loss of farmland to development is a concern of mine, and I asked Lamb what he would say to those who also share the concern.

“I appreciate you for caring about farmland, because I think that is the stronghold of our communities in so many ways. It is our history, and it is the history of our communities. It provides food and economic benefits to the local community,” he said. “I really appreciate when people truly care about farmland preservation, because I think it is important.”

I feel the same way about our farmland, especially when I see cookie-cutter housing developments popping up left and right. That just doesn’t just change our farmland, it often changes the character of who we are as a rural community.

Unlike a large tech development, housing also doesn’t come with the same tax advantages. They are often a wash based on things like new services required and infrastructure upgrades and the new tax revenue they generate.

They come with other negative consequences, too. Housing developments absolutely change the character and politics of our rural communities. Something I have noticed here in my home county; with new housing has come anti-development groups. They are seemingly against every kind of development except housing. Try building a hog or chicken barn near them, and you will find out exactly what they think of farmers. They often raise the issue of protecting our farmland from these tech developments. Yet they ignore it when it is thousands of acres of new housing.

These groups typically align with environmentalist watchdogs that are historically made up of people who gnash their teeth at the thought of conventional agriculture. This left me skeptical of their motives for suddenly coming to the aid of farmers and preserving farmland.

While I want to see all farms protected, I also see the benefit of strategic tech development. Carving out acreage in a county for this is not going to harm our food production overall. Corn, as one example, has seen production rise 360 percent since 1950, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Lamb went on to elaborate, saying, “Economic development is also very important. Sometimes that looks like agricultural economic development, which I love, and sometimes that looks different. For the local community to keep its tax base, to be able to attract young families back home to a place where our kids wanna come back to. … Local communities have to have child care and other amenities. There are times when economic development looks different from agriculture.”

Living in a rural area, I’ve seen a lot of industries come and go. People don’t always understand that we have been promised the moon before, only to get stuck with the bill or the mess when things don’t pan out. So I’m no stranger to being skeptical when someone comes around talking about “economic development” and “jobs.”

But after really getting past the sensationalist headlines and flipping this data center rock over and looking at it straight, I believe if these data centers do it right, they can be extremely beneficial for communities like ours across rural America.

Looking into the jobs they create was interesting: They don’t employ thousands like an old-school auto plant, but they can bring in long-term jobs that pay really well, and these jobs have great benefits, training, and give an economically dwindling town a future. And, before the first server ever fires up, it takes an army of skilled tradesmen like electricians, steel workers, and heavy equipment operators to build them. Those builds aren’t month-long projects either; they are long construction schedules that can keep local crews busy for years.

Rural America is centered around these tradesmen, the same people who built our cities and communities and are typically living out in the country.

In my research, I came across a guy who I have a lot of respect for, advocating for them: It was none other than Mike Rowe. (I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Rowe when he shot a TV show on my farm, and he is even more down-to-earth in person and off camera. Rowe has the kind of integrity and grit that rural America appreciates. He is a “celebrity” who has also earned respect because he speaks for many in the skilled trades and in rural areas.

I knew if Rowe saw the benefit of data centers to the skilled trades, then I wanted to look deeper too. What I discovered is a new breed of data centers smarter about resources. A lot of them don’t use nearly as much water anymore, rather they are using air-cooled or closed-loop systems (meaning they’re reusing what they have instead of draining our aquifers.) Some even generate their own electricity with natural gas turbines or solar arrays, taking pressure off the local grid and, in some cases, putting their surplus power back onto communities.

Big names such as Google have set the standard for being good neighbors, investing in our rural schools, local nonprofits, tech and trade schools, and infrastructure right alongside building their facilities.

Yet, it’s also important to ask: How can we trust these developers and massive corporations?

If these companies want to set down roots out here, they need to know that trust isn’t given; it’s earned. That means showing up at town halls, talking to the whole community (not just the big landowners or the county commissioners), and listening when folks raise concerns, then addressing those concerns with transparency.

We understand mistakes — we have all made them — but we also own them too, and we expect these new neighbors to do the same if we let them set up shop. We’re the kind of neighbors who’ll help you pull your truck out of the ditch in January, and if we let you into our community, we want to see you’re here for the long haul and for the betterment of our community.

“Are they going to respect your community? Are they going to respect your local officials? Are they going to be good neighbors? Are they going to want to enhance and give back to the community?,” Lamb asked. “You know there are many different ways these companies can give back to the community. Maybe that is an area where the local FFA Chapter gets a really nice boost, maybe they can do something for education for agriculture that the FFA couldn’t do before.”

He also went on to explain what expectations these companies have when it comes to local control.

“I think that it should look like the developers and local officials are working together, and the local officials need to be able to set the rules and decide what is best for their local community,” he said. “I think whenever you look for that partner [development] one of the best things you can do is find a business who is going to be synergistic with other businesses. Maybe they can benefit the local businesses in your community. Maybe as a vendor for the new development.”

The more you look past the negative news headlines, the more you see the real benefits. Data centers can bring the kind of infrastructure upgrades that a lot of towns and counties often need: serious improvements in roads, power lines, and water systems. Small towns have been desperate for tax revenue to fix or upgrade these necessities for decades. These aren’t investments that disappear into Wall Street; they stay right here on Main Street.

And while electricity rates are high in some places because the country’s power infrastructure is still catching up to new demands, over time that should even out as the grid improves.

Improving the grid means more jobs too. America must call upon the spirit and the skill of its rural heartland. The grit, determination, and practical know-how that built our railroads, powered our factories, and fed our armies must now be turned toward building the digital infrastructure of tomorrow. We need welders who can assemble the steel frames of new server facilities. We need electricians who can wire them. We need truck drivers who can haul the components, and problem solvers who can keep them running. This is a call not just to defend our country, but to secure its leadership in a new age.

Rural America has always been the bedrock of this nation’s strength. Today, it can be the foundation of its future. The same hands that have built and defended America before can and must build the engines of our technology tomorrow. The challenge is great. But so is the resolve of rural America.

And here’s my two cents for any developer or company thinking about building in rural America: Don’t come in just asking for handouts. Show up ready to pay your fair share, just like the rest of us. We know that their “fair share” can be a healthy chunk of revenue that helps fund our schools, our fire departments, and our community services.

If they demand tax abatements, and it still makes sense for the community, then community leaders need to make sure there is an alternative form of payment, like a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes). These create large, predictable revenue streams, even though there is an abatement in place. These payments come in faster and offer protections for communities vs just handing out abatements. County/city leaders can utilize these alternative forms of payment to further protect their communities. (If the project slows or goes under after a period of time, with just abatements alone, the community can be left holding the bag.)

These alternative payment forms guarantee municipalities still get benefits.

My advice for developers and tenants that occupy these data centers: Start by helping keep the lights on — literally and figuratively — for the people who live here. If they can do all that, I believe data centers could be one of the answers to revive rural America, something that hasn’t been seen in years. They won’t replace the factory or the family farm, but they can help revive towns that’ve been hanging on by a thread.

Out here, we know how to take care of something once it’s proven itself worth keeping. If Google and Microsoft are willing to invest in Main Street instead of Wall Street, then we ought to at least hear them out when they come knocking.

Jonathan Lawler is co-founder of Rural Strategies Group, which partners with companies, government leaders, candidates, and associations to break through, move opinion, and get results in rural communities.