The first rainfall in months splashes off the windshield as the mayor of Western Downs Andrew Smith drives to the site of a proposed AI data center behind a cattle feedlot in rural Queensland.
It’s feeding time and 16,000 cattle are standing under shade sails waiting for a passing truck to shoot grain into their troughs.
Agriculture is the biggest employer in this area, 260 kilometers (131 miles) west of Brisbane. But beneath the rich vertosol soils that sustain year-round crops lies a massive gas field that’s also turned the region into an energy hub.
