By Paul Pluss, Founder of Sprouting Gear Inc., a veteran livestock rancher and researcher focused on agriculture, water policy, and infrastructure demands. The U.S. livestock industry, already grappling with rising feed costs and shrinking herd sizes, now faces a fast-approaching and under-recognized threat: the massive expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure—especially data centers—and its impact on water availability.
Since 1975, the number of head of cattle in the United States has fallen from 132 million head to 86.7 million in 2025—a 34% drop. During the same 50-year period, the U.S. human population grew by 58%, from 216 million to over 343 million.
While many attribute rising feed costs to labor shortages or global supply issues, a more critical factor is driving the decline: water scarcity. Depleted aquifers, drying rivers, and intense competition for water resources have made traditional agriculture increasingly difficult across vast parts of the country. As wells run dry, feed must be transported from greater distances, compounding operational costs.
There are approximately 50,116 center pivot irrigation systems in just the central and southern regions of the Ogallala Aquifer, (Characterizing center pivots to help improve crop production - Irrigation Today).
What remains largely unrecognized by agricultural stakeholders is the water footprint of the rapidly growing AI sector.
Fueled by public and private investment in AI infrastructure, the number of U.S. data centers is expected to grow from 5,426 today to more than 8,378 within five years. Many existing facilities are also expanding. These data centers—crucial for powering AI models, cloud computing, and digital services—require enormous amounts of water to cool their servers.
This level of water consumption rivals the agricultural water use in major farming states and could soon surpass the entire livestock industry’s combined water footprint, including feed crop irrigation, drinking water, and processing needs.
The scale of infrastructure being built to support AI is comparable to a modern-day Manhattan Project. It includes not only thousands of new data centers but also expansions of power grids, new generation facilities, and government-backed funding to ensure U.S. dominance in AI technologies.
While these goals are important for international competitiveness, the unintended consequences for agriculture are profound. Without strategic foresight, livestock producers could be caught in a future of escalating water competition with no seat at the policy table.
In light of this emerging crisis, solutions that reduce agriculture’s water footprint are urgently needed. One area of innovation is the use of indoor hydroponic systems to grow livestock feed, such as what is called barley fodder. These systems can reduce water use by up to 95% compared to conventional irrigated crops, while also reducing the need for diesel-powered farm equipment.
Sample shown of barley fodder Hydroponically grown for 9 days with near zero carbon footprint and 95% less water than traditional plow farmed crops.
Strategically located near feedyards, hydroponic feed systems offer year-round feed production with lower water, fuel, and transportation demands—potentially creating a new model for resilient, localized agriculture.
As discussions around carbon and water credits advance, these technologies could also generate environmental offset revenues, offering an additional path to profitability for progressive ranchers.
Sprouting Gear has been working on a hydroponic solution for large scale feed producing warehouses to grow low water, low carbon, less land needed feed adjacent to feedyards.
Here we’ve created a pair of articles and short videos to explain hydroponic livestock feeding and the economics behind it:
We’ve created articles and videos to explain hydroponic livestock feed and its economics:
Why Aquifers are a bigger problem than the Colorado River Revised 03/20/2025 If you think the increasing demands on the water supply from the Colorado River is a major concern, the “groundwater depletion” of the Ogallala Aquifer and more than 20 other aquifers in the Southwest is at a crisis level. The Colorado River provides […]
Providing feed and water for our animal proteins: It is in the top 5 for electricity usage. It is in the top 5 for diesel fuel usage. It is the largest usage of water. It is by far the biggest usage of habitable land. How to Slash Each by 90% This article discusses the environmental […]
