In the words of the country/western singer, Ian Munsick, “There are to many towns and not enough cattle.”  That song lyric is being repeated over and over in Texas’ conversations. There are a lot more towns and less cattle.  The landscape has changed and is changing.

This is more than casual conversation or the perception of longtime Texans watching their communities grow. It is reality and the numbers tell a story that should command the attention of anyone who owns, manages or depends upon Texas land.

At the recent Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course, Dr. Roel Lopez, AgriLife Extension specialist and director of the Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute (NRI), presented a sobering look at Texas’ population growth, changing land-use patterns and what the future could hold for the state’s rural landscape. He shared statistics compiled by the NRI, that sent a noticeable ripple through the crowd of cattlemen and landowners.

Texas is now the eighth-largest economy in the world, and its population is growing at an estimated rate of 1,200 people every day. The state’s population is projected to double within the next 25 years. Already, eight of the 15 fastest-growing towns in the United States are in Texas.

The growth is not occurring in some distant corner of the state. It is reshaping the very land that has historically supported Texas agriculture.

Texas encompasses approximately 171 million acres, with grazing lands accounting for about 72% of the state’s working lands. That percentage, however, has steadily declined since 1997. Between 1997 and 2022, Texas lost approximately 3.7 million acres of working land to nonagricultural uses, with 1.8 million of those acres lost in just the last five years of that period. In fact, the working-land loss during those five years represented 51% of the total loss over the preceding 35 years.

The trend is evident in the number and size of agricultural operations as well. During the most recent five-year period, the total number of operations declined by more than 17,000, accompanied by a decrease of more than 1.5 million acres in the acreage associated with those operations. Small farms increased by 31% over the 25-year period, while mid-sized farms declined by 27%.

At the same time, the value of Texas land has climbed dramatically. Average appraised market value increased 505% over the period Lopez examined. That rising value can be a tremendous asset for landowners, but it also creates enormous pressure to sell, subdivide or convert agricultural property to uses that can generate greater returns.

Today, Texas is losing an estimated 1,023 acres of land to development and urban sprawl every day.

To put that figure into terms that resonate beyond acreage, Lopez noted that the daily loss of agricultural land represents the potential equivalent of approximately 31,000 steaks annually, 16,000 fewer pairs of blue jeans and 142 water towers that would not be filled over the course of a year.

The pressure on rural land is not coming from population growth alone. Landowners are increasingly exploring alternative ways to generate income from their property and make their operations economically viable. Hunting and recreational leases are becoming more prevalent in some areas, while carbon markets and other emerging technologies are competing for land. Wildlife management has also become a significant land-use option.

In 1997, approximately 94,000 acres were enrolled in wildlife management. By 2022, that figure had grown to approximately 7.1 million acres. Wildlife management became a qualifying agricultural practice in 1995, providing landowners another avenue for maintaining an agricultural valuation while managing natural resources.

Renewable energy is another rapidly expanding component of the Texas landscape. Since 2014, wind turbines have increased by approximately 167% in the state, while solar farms have increased by an astounding 1,254%.

And now, another industry is competing for Texas’ land and resources: data centers.

As of 2026, Texas has 79 operating data centers, with another 100 reportedly planned. While these facilities represent economic investment and are part of the technological infrastructure supporting a growing population, they also bring significant demands for water and energy—two resources that are already critical issues for Texas agriculture.

Lopez explained that an average data center uses approximately 1 million gallons of water per day. About 60% is used to cool systems, 30% to control humidity and the remaining 10% for other purposes. Depending upon the technology and system employed, facilities are currently recapturing or reusing approximately 45% to 75% of that water.

The energy demands are equally significant. An average data center consumes approximately 50 megawatt-hours of energy per day, with roughly 40% used for cooling, 45% for servers and storage, and the remaining 15% for other operations.

Put another way, the daily water use of an average data center is comparable to the amount used by approximately 3,333 households, while its energy consumption is equivalent to that of approximately 1,667 homes.

As Texas continues to grow, the infrastructure required to support that growth will also expand. Proposed 765-kilovolt transmission lines are one example, with high-voltage corridors potentially crossing miles of rural property to move electricity to the growing population and expanding industries.

Battery storage is another emerging component of the state’s energy landscape. There were 25 battery farms operating in Texas in 2025, with another 187 projects in the planning stages.

For agricultural producers, these changes represent more than statistics on a PowerPoint presentation. They point to a fundamental shift in the way Texas land is being valued, used and passed from one generation to the next.

Lopez also pointed to the changing age of Texas landowners. With approximately 41% of the population now over the age of 65, the state is approaching what could become one of the largest intergenerational transfers of rural land in its history. As ranches and farms change hands, some will remain in agriculture, while others may become homes, subdivisions or commercial developments. Ownership will increasingly move to a younger generation with potentially different ideas about how land should be used.

The concentration of population makes the trend even more striking. Texas’ 25 most populous counties collectively have a population greater than that of 48 individual states. In other words, the population growth occurring in Texas is not simply creating larger cities, it is creating enormous demand for the land, water, energy and infrastructure that surround them.

For those involved in agriculture, the challenge is how to remain viable in the middle of that growth.

Ranchers are already looking for ways to add value to the land they work, whether through cattle production, hunting and recreation, wildlife management, carbon markets or other enterprises. The traditional model of agricultural production is being challenged by a rapidly changing economic and demographic landscape.

And that change is not going to slow down.

In closing his presentation, Lopez challenged Texas ranchers to prepare for more change, more people, changing perspectives among landowners and emerging technologies. But perhaps most importantly, he challenged them to communicate.

Ranchers need to tell the story of private land and its benefits to the public.

That may be one of the most important messages coming out of the numbers. The future of Texas agriculture will not be determined solely by how many acres remain in production. It will also depend upon whether the people living in the state’s rapidly growing cities understand the value of the land beyond its potential for development.

Texas is changing. The question is not whether it will continue to change, but what role agriculture and private landowners will have in shaping what comes next.

Resources