Aiden Johnson predicts that the construction of large, water-cooled data centers in the western U.S. will create competition for water resources with water-intensive crops like alfalfa.

Google is constructing a 482-acre, air-cooled data center located 20 minutes south of Aiden Johnson's location in Minnesota.

Aiden Johnson believes that building a company like Haywire would have required a large team 10 years ago and would not have been feasible for two 20-year-olds without modern AI infrastructure.

Aiden Johnson asserts that middlemen, such as commodity brokers, are the market participants who stand to lose the most from increased price transparency in the hay market.

Farmers are attempting to stockpile hay for the summer due to expectations of a light first cut, low yields, and the depletion of carryover supply from 2025.

Hay is grown on approximately 49 to 50 million acres of land across the United States.

According to USDA NASS data for April, the average price of hay was $180 per ton, an increase from $167 per ton in March.

With an annual production value of $8 billion, alfalfa is the fourth most valuable crop in the United States.

According to USDA NASS data for April, the average price of alfalfa was $185 per ton, an increase from $175 per ton in March.

Currently, 46% of the alfalfa acreage in the United States is affected by drought conditions.

Haywire has a data partnership with Rock Valley Hay Auction, one of the largest hay auctions in the U.S., to supplement its data.

Haywire utilizes a direct API integration with the USDA to receive a live feed of agricultural data.

Haywire is a business that aggregates public data from the USDA and presents it in plain English newsletters for subscribers.

In response to high prices, some dairy farms are mixing high-quality RFV alfalfa with lower-quality feed to manage their rations and control costs.

The U.S. hay market is highly fragmented into hyperlocal markets because high transportation costs, ranging from $5 to $8 per mile, make it uneconomical to ship hay across the country.