Data Centers No Barrier to Agri-Ready Status

Nancy Zeliff, a visitor to one of the recent Nodaway County Commission meetings regarding data centers, raised the question of what a data center would do to the county’s Agri-Ready status. Erin Metzler, Communications Director for Missouri Farmers Care, which manages the Agri-Ready program, told the Express that Missouri Farmers Care does not have a policy that would cause a county with a data center to  be ineligible for the Agri-Ready Designated Status. The group furnished a flyer regarding Agri-Ready specifications.

The Agri-Ready program has been in existence since 2015. A county commission must apply to be designated as Argi-Ready; there is no cost to the county to participate.  Cooperation is voluntary and is not required by law. Missouri Farmers Care reviews county ordinances, policies, and statements of support to determine a county’s willingness to support agriculture. Nodaway County applied for and was given Agri-Ready status in 2021.

To receive Agri-Ready status, a county must:

—Attest willingness to promote agricultural stewardship, growth, and opportunity;

—Not have any health or zoning ordinances that discourage, limit, or restrict agricultural operations or ag processing facilities;

—Defer to the Missouri Department of Agriculture and Missouri DNR for all environmental permitting of agricultural operations;

—Not impose additional agricultural bonding, permit fees, or insurance requirements;

—Not apply definitions to agricultural operations more stringent than state laws or regulations;

—Allow land application of nutrients at agronomic rates based on data from the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources;

—Allow the use of biotechnology crops and crop products in accordance with their federally labeled use.

Upon designation as an Agri-Ready County, Missouri Farmers Care provides counties with the Agri-Ready logo to use in promotional and informational materials and road signs announcing designation and publish and promote the list of such counties. Missouri Farmers Care members will use their extensive networks and available resources to promote, encourage, and equip business entities to expand, locate, and do business in Agri-Ready designated counties and bring agricultural education efforts and stewardship efforts to such counties.