Legendary musician and activist Willie Nelson has sounded the alarm over a looming tech threat to American farmland.
Nelson, 93, posted an open letter on his social media accounts on Tuesday, lashing out at the possibility of a data center being built in his hometown of Abbott, Texas.
Abbott is located 24 miles north of Waco, with a population of fewer than 400 people. Last month, the Texas Tribune identified at least 248 planned data center projects in the Lone Star State.
While the industry said the centers promise major economic gains, opponents are concerned about a spike in electricity bills and a diminished grid.
“I grew up in Abbott, and I still have a home there with farmed land where I can still see stars at night,” Wilson wrote in his letter. “And now our community, like many others, needs to fight against data centers invading our land.”
The musician, best known for hits “On the Road Again” and “Always On My Mind,” also called out potential impacts on Abbott.
“The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter).”
Nelson and fellow musician John Mellencamp established Farm Aid in 1985 to raise money and awareness for family farms and promote a strong and resilient system of agriculture.
The Farm Aid concerts have raised over $90 million to date. Nelson will perform at the next Farm Aid concert in Virginia Beach in September, alongside Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Neil Young and more.
Nelson’s letter continued, “The strength of rural America has never come from big industrial footprints. It comes from generations of people, open spaces, local business, and a connection to the land.”
He added, “All of America deserves thoughtful stewardship that doesn’t steal farmland (where our essential shared food is grown) and small family farmers’ livelihoods, and not data centers that only destroy the environment around them. Whoever controls food and water, controls the masses.”
The letter saw Nelson state, “Let’s not allow our own demise or give up control over necessary resources” in the U.S. and “especially” in Abbott.
A report from February claimed that Texas could surpass Virginia to be the world’s largest data center market by 2030.
However the Texas Tribune reported that community advocates fear a future where data centers use massive amounts of water, emit constant noise and spew pollution from on-site, gas-fueled power plants and backup generators.
More than 70 percent of Americans said they would not want an AI data center in their neighborhood, according to a Gallup poll from March.
Last month, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found 77 percent of U.S. adults worry AI-driven data centers will raise electricity costs.
The issue has become so divisive that some Republican candidates are going against President Trump and campaigning against data centers, believing it will help boost their midterm chances.
Analysis from Bloomberg News released earlier this month found that at least 12 Republican federal and gubernatorial candidates have run ads opposing energy-intensive data centers amid the AI boom ahead of November’s elections.
Nelson publicly supported former Vice President Kamala Harris during her 2024 presidential campaign, including performing at a rally in Houston, Texas.
His most recent album, Dream Chaser, was released in May. It is remarkably his 156th solo album.
Nelson’s letter follows fellow Texan country star Tanya Tucker, who posted a video on social media last week warning about transmission lines being constructed over private land to accommodate the surge in electricity required in rural Texas.
Tucker said the transmission lines are “coming through all the ranches in Texas, and destroying our property. It’s gonna hurt our health, our wildlife, our water table, our water resources. It’s gonna scar our land forever.”
She told her fans, “it’s starting in Texas, but it’s gonna go everywhere. So let it stop in Texas, too.”
