The Hoosier Farmer

Area residents seeking to learn more about data centers attended an educational meeting on March 9 at the Fulton County Fairgrounds in Rochester. The event, hosted by Fulton County Farm Bureau, was led by Indiana Farm Bureau with guest speakers Dr. Roberto Gallardo from Purdue University and attorney James Federoff of Federoff Law LLC.

Fulton County Farm Bureau President Stephen Williams said he approached INFB regional managers about an educational program when he started hearing small talk in meetings back in December.

“As a way to try and get ahead of the rumor mill, I asked if we could start working towards putting together something, and then January came around and this county just exploded,” he said.

A week prior to the program, the Fulton County Commissioners approved a one-year moratorium on any future data center projects following interest in building one in Akron, a town in Fulton County. During this time, residents and government leaders are seeking more information and answers about the benefits and drawbacks to data centers, and zoning laws – topics discussed at the FCFB meeting.

“Not that we want to push it, but we want everybody in our county just to have a better understanding,” said Williams. “What we presented tonight was some small portions of the giant, continuously growing question circling data centers. Our two speakers did a great job answering portions of the questions and filling in portions of the pie.”

Dr. Gallardo's presentation and other materials from the meeting are available at infb.org/resources/hot-topics-in-ag.

Contact Editor

Robert Herrington

(317) 692-7871

RHerrington@infb.org