Farmland vs Data Centers: Farmers Sold Colorado-Sized Land (77x All Data Center Property) While Growing More Food Than Ever

Simon Willison·low signal

Simon Willison highlighted Andy Masley's striking statistic: between 2000 and 2024, US farmers voluntarily sold a Colorado-sized chunk of land — 77 times all data center property in 2028 — while simultaneously increasing food production on what remained. This contextualizes the 'AI data centers eating farmland' narrative as dramatically overstated relative to routine agricultural land-use changes.