Ida Huddleston, an 82-year-old Kentucky grandmother, and her family declined a $26 million offer from a major artificial intelligence company seeking to buy 534 acres of their farmland near Maysville for a data center campus, according to fortune.com. The offer was significantly above the local farmland rate, with $60,000 per acre for Huddleston's 71 acres and $48,000 per acre for her daughter Delsia Bare's 463 acres.
The AI firm approached multiple landowners in Mason County last spring about purchasing land for the project. Bare initially signed a contract to sell but later withdrew due to concerns about potential eminent domain use and pressure from unidentified developers. Huddleston emphasized the family's deep roots on the 1,200-acre property, which has been in their family for decades, and expressed a commitment to preserving their heritage over financial gain.
The offer was more than four times the average local farmland price of roughly $6,000 per acre, highlighting the premium AI companies are willing to pay for land suitable for data center development. This case illustrates growing tensions between rural landowners and tech firms seeking sites for infrastructure to support AI workloads. Similar land acquisitions have sparked debates about community impact and land rights in other regions.
Huddleston and Bare have become vocal opponents of the project, advocating to protect their family farm and resist development pressures. Their stand underscores the challenges AI companies face in securing land for data centers amid community resistance. The family’s decision was reported by WKRC Local 12 and detailed in an exclusive interview with People magazine.