86-year-old farmer rejects $15 million offer from AI data center to sell his land and makes his own deal
A farmer in Pennsylvania turned down a multi-million dollar offer to buy his land in order to build a data center.
Mervin Raudabaugh, 86, has been farmer for 70 years, 50 of which he has spent farming this very land in Mechanicsburg.
But last year developers approached Raudabaugh, offering to buy his land so that they could build a data center there.
The developers offered the lifelong farmer $60,000 an acre for the land, meaning the total for the whole 261 acres was more $15 million - a life-changing amount of money.
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But despite the enormous amount of money that was being offered to him, Raudabaugh said no.
The farmer opened up about why he turned down the multi-million dollar offer on the farm from the developers.
"It was my life," he said. "I told [the data center developers] no, I was not interested in destroying my farms."
He went on to explain that he was less interested in the 'economic' side of things, saying: "That was really the bottom line. It wasn't so much the economic end of it. I just didn't want to see these two farms destroyed."
He added: "Only the land that is preserved here is going to be here. The rest, every square inch, is going to get built on."
Not only did Raudabaugh not sell to the developers, but he also went out of his way to ensure the land stayed protected.
He did this by selling the rights to develop on his land to the Lancaster Farmland Trust.
This is a nonprofit organization which aims to preserve land in Cumberland County.
The trust paid Raudabaugh $2 million for the land, a fraction of the offer he received from the other developers.
However, the crucial factor in selling to the trust was a guarantee that the land will not be used for another purpose.
The land can still be sold, but only if the purchaser is going to use it for agriculture.
Jeff Swinehart, a representative of the Lancaster Farmland Trust, told FOX 43 that Raudabaugh is not alone in his desire to preserve his farmland for its current use.
He said: "We see from many farm families a desire to ensure that farm remains a farm forever and that it contributes to the local community."
Raudabaugh added: "Friends of mine here are very happy with what I've done because they know that the building within their eye view here will be beautiful for quite a while."
Topics: News, US News, Money, Technology, Artificial Intelligence
Kit Roberts