Farmland owner says AI data center ‘better for community goals’ in Michigan town

HOWELL TWP., MI — When multiple developers of hyperscale data centers to power artificial intelligence and cloud computing approached Ryan Van Gilder and his family, he said, they had not been planning to sell farmland for development.

Now the longtime, multigenerational Howell area farming family is looking to sell a chunk of the many thousands of acres of farmland they own to a hyperscale data center project reportedly backed by Facebook and Instagram owner Meta.

“We didn’t seek out a sale or a data center. They came to us,” he said…

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