Kentucky farmer rejects $26 million offer for data center land

For generations, Ida Huddleston and her family have owned and preserved their farm in northern Kentucky. Last year, an unnamed major artificial intelligence company offered the family $26 million to purchase a portion of their property for a proposed data center development, according to a report by local news station WKRC. Huddleston, who is 82, and her family rejected the multimillion-dollar offer. They firmly declined the transaction, stating that they did not want a data center built near them or on any of their 1,200 acres of farmland located outside Maysville, Kentucky. WKRC, which reported on the zoning request, interviewed Huddleston regarding the family’s decision.

Despite the family’s refusal to sell their land, the unnamed AI firm may still build its data center next to Huddleston’s property. WKRC reported that the technology company revised its development plans and filed a zoning request to rezone more than 2,000 acres in northern Kentucky. This zoning request, which functions as a legal application to change land use designation, indicates that the company is continuing to pursue the project. If the local government approves the legal application, the AI firm could proceed with constructing its computing facility on the acreage immediately adjacent to the Huddleston family’s agricultural land, meaning the project may still proceed nearby.

The proposed development has met with significant local resistance. In an interview with the news station, Huddleston expressed deep skepticism regarding the data center’s potential to bring jobs or economic growth to Mason County. She raised serious environmental and resource concerns, pointing to recent water shortages and ground poisoning that’s been widely reported in land near data centers. Huddleston pushed back against patronizing attitudes toward rural landowners, explaining that agricultural families are highly aware of the threats to their livelihoods. She noted that farmers understand when their food supplies and lands are disappearing, and when they face water scarcity or environmental contamination. Ultimately, she dismissed the developers’ economic promises. “It’s a scam,” said Ida Huddleston, an 82-year-old farmer.

Why it matters

The tension between massive AI infrastructure needs and local land rights highlights the growing friction as data centers expand into rural areas, often facing significant community pushback over resource usage.