‘Not for sale’: Pennsylvania farmer rejects $15 million data center offer to preserve family farmland worldwide. News

A Pennsylvania farmer turned down a $15 million data center offer and instead opted to permanently preserve his family’s land through a conservation easement.

a decision that has pushed AI-powered infrastructure deeper into rural America.

Mervin Raudabaugh, a lifelong farmer in Cumberland County, sold the development rights to his 261-acre property for nearly $2 million, ensuring that it could never be developed commercially.

The land, which has been farmed for decades and is associated with personal loss and memory, will remain arable, even as demand increases from power-hungry data centers across the country.

Why did the farmer reject the data center deal?

Raudabaugh finalised the conservation easement on December 30, 2025, putting the farm in Silver Spring Township under permanent protection.

This agreement compensates him for giving up development rights while he retains ownership of the land.

News of the decision began to circulate widely in late January 2026, attracting renewed attention in early February.

This election was not purely financial. Raudabaugh has farmed the property for more than five decades, and the land has deep family significance, including the barn where his mother died.

He described the farm as an inheritance rather than a commodity, which should be managed for the future rather than sold to the highest bidder.

The deal was enabled by the voter-approved Farmland Preservation Program of Silver Spring Township, which launched in 2013 and is funded by a $120 annual home tax. T

To date, the program has helped preserve 21 properties, providing farmers with a viable alternative to selling them to developers.

The Lancaster Farmland Trust holds the easement on Roudabaugh’s farm and is responsible for enforcing the long-term restrictions.

There is significant pressure on the developer, and legal action is nearly imminent.

As demand for sites with access to electricity, water and transportation infrastructure has increased, Roudabaugh has faced frequent contact from data center developers.

Township officials have stated that the pressure has become so intense it is nearing the point of legal action, which highlights the aggressive competition among companies for rural land suitable for large-scale facilities.

scale facilities. The case highlights growing land-use conflicts.

According to Lawrence Berkeley’s National Laboratory, AI-powered data centers could occupy 1,000 square miles of land in the United States by 2030.

At the same time, Pennsylvania is losing an estimated 1,200 acres of agricultural land every week to development, losses that are often irreversible once the land is converted

Most landowners faced with eight-figure offers choose to sell. Roudabaugh’s refusal has therefore become emblematic of the broader debate over local control, conservation funding and the long-

term costs of the AI ​​infrastructure boom. It also highlights the importance of conservation programs in giving farmers meaningful alternatives when major developers arrive.

As AI adoption accelerates, similar conflicts are expected to increase across rural America. While Roudabaugh’s farm will remain agricultural forever,

It stands as a reminder that even in an age of unprecedented technological expansion, not every piece of land is for sale.