Blake Hurst, a farmer in Atchison County, Missouri, who led the Missouri Farm Bureau from 2010 to 2020, invited data center developers to bid on his land in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, writing, "Developers, make me an offer." His farm sits roughly 40 miles from the proposed White Cloud Acres project in neighboring Nodaway County, a data center campus that local reporting has valued at $6.3 billion and that county commissioners halted on July 21 with a moratorium of up to six months. Hurst's pitch runs against national polling that now puts opposition to nearby data centers at 63% to 70%, and against a wave of restrictions that passed 500 jurisdictions nationwide this month.
Nodaway County's commissioners passed their moratorium ordinance while they negotiate a development agreement with Scale Microgrids, the developer behind White Cloud Acres. A petition against the project gathered more than 7,000 signatures in roughly two months, according to the Northwest Missourian, and Maryville's mayor has said he opposes it.
