Texas Farmers Fear Data Centers Threaten Land, Water, and Livelihoods

Lubbock farmer Cheyenne Buerger has spent his life tending 6,000 acres of wheat, cotton and milo in Haskell County, watching the fourth generation of his family work the same soil that has sustained them since the 1800s. In late 2023, the landowner notified Buerger that 600 of those acres—just as his winter wheat was coming in—had been sold to a third-party developer preparing to build a Google data center. He was given 60 days to finish the harvest and vacate the property. “They told me I could finish the crop, but that was it,” Buerger said. “Sixty days and I’m out.”

At least 248 data centers are now planned or under construction across Texas, with rural counties—where land is flat, abundant and inexpensive—proving the easiest targets. Nationwide, 67 percent of data centers are located in rural areas, according to Pew Research Center. The rapid expansion is colliding with an agricultural sector already struggling under rising costs, prolonged drought and shrinking farmland.

Texas remains the nation’s top agricultural producer, generating more than $963 billion in total economic output and nearly $15 billion in exports each year. Yet the state lost nearly 3.7 million acres of farmland between 1997 and 2022, with 1.8 million acres converted to non-agricultural uses from 2017 to 2022 alone, Texas Land Trends reports. The exact destinations of those conversions—whether housing, solar farms or data centers—are not specified in the data. Before data centers, solar farms had already claimed more than 1.5 million acres of Texas cropland, according to Cleanview, a firm tracking power infrastructure. As of 2024, the company identified 240 utility-scale solar installations across the state.

Three major data center projects—Project Matador in the Panhandle, Project Pacifico in Pecos County and Project Meta in El Paso—are expected to consume at least 16,000 acres combined, an area larger than 12,000 football fields. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller warned that fertile, productive land is being paved over permanently. “Once our farmland is gone and paved over, we’ll never farm it again,” Miller said.

Critics cite Governor Greg Abbott’s refusal to call a special legislative session to address data center impacts as evidence of insufficient oversight. Clayton Tucker, the Democratic nominee for agriculture commissioner, has traveled rural Texas urging a temporary moratorium on new data center construction. “This isn’t about being anti-AI or anti-economic development,” Tucker said. “This is a major threat to Texas the way they’re currently being done. And right now, the only correct answer is a complete pause. Let’s be smart about this.”

His Republican opponent, Nate Sheets, who defeated Miller in the March primary, favors a market-based approach, suggesting data centers should contribute to water and land conservation funds rather than simply occupying space. “The best thing we can do for a partnership between agriculture and data centers is use the financial resources of data centers to go fix the problems we have today in Texas,” Sheets said.

For farmers like Eric Simpson, who operates At’l Do Farms near Shallowater, the immediate concern is water. Just 20 miles away, a data center is rising in Abernathy, further straining the Ogallala Aquifer that underpins $5 billion in annual agricultural revenue across 41 counties in the High Plains. Simpson has already reduced irrigation to the bare minimum. “How do I start adjusting now to a future where I cannot pump water to grow pumpkins or even the maize anymore?” he asked.

Near Hereford in the northwest Panhandle, rancher Chris Grotegut anticipates his land may be targeted next. Google’s Project Roman, a multi-phase data center initiative, is expected to span up to 180,000 acres once combined solar and wind power facilities are included. Grotegut attended a community meeting where company representatives outlined plans to balance water use through extensive grassland restoration. “They have to make sure what they’re doing is correct because they’re depending on it too,” Grotegut said.

With data centers, solar farms and other industrial users competing for the same finite resources, Texas agriculture faces an existential squeeze. Farmers and ranchers are raising alarms about long-term viability as their fields, aquifers and rural roads bear the weight of rapid technological expansion.

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