An 86-year-old Pennsylvania farmer turned down millions of dollars from a data center developer for his land.
“Cumberland County farmer Mervin Raudabaugh, 86, chose instead to sell the development rights to his 261 acres in Silver Spring Township for just under $1.9 million,” PennLive wrote.
“The conservation easements now held by Lancaster Farmland Trust effectively preserve Raudabaugh’s farms for agricultural use in perpetuity,” the outlet continued.
NEWS🚨: Man turns down $15 million to prevent farmland from becoming data centre in Pennsylvania pic.twitter.com/WG5RA3WIRS
— All day Astronomy (@forallcurious) February 16, 2026
According to WHTM, the data center developer was “dangling $15 million over his head.”
Raudabaugh will only sell the land itself to someone that will keep it farmland, the outlet noted.
“They were approaching him, and they were, in his view, harassing him to the point that his attorney was considering filing against them in court,” said Laura Brown, coordinator of the township’s land preservation program, according to the outlet.
“So, that’s when I called Jeb [Musser] and Lancaster Farmland Trust and said, ‘Hey, are you guys interested in preserving?’” Brown continued.
ICYMI – A Cumberland County farmer turned down millions to turn his land into a data center.https://t.co/3ttKfZFw7p
— abc27 News (@abc27News) February 15, 2026
WHTM shared more:
Silver Spring Township is one of four municipalities outside the Philadelphia area where voters decided to dedicate part of their income taxes to purchase the development rights for their land. It costs the average household $120 each year, and residents have preserved 21 properties since 2013, the township said.
“Once Laura reached out to us, our board was more than supportive of this,” said Jeb Musser, vice president of land protection for the trust. “These farms met all of our criteria as far as good farms to preserve.”
The township compensated the Lancaster Farmland Trust, a nonprofit, to hold and enforce the easement to Raudabaugh’s land.
Raudabaugh can likely sell the land as farmland for a few million dollars, meaning between that and the money he got for preserving it, he would get less than half of what the data center folks were offering.
“Raudabaugh, who has several heirs but none interested in taking over the farm, said he had actually explored preservation for several years. He finalized the deal late last year after what he described as persistent efforts by a data center team to buy his 261 acres and two neighboring properties,” PennLive wrote.
Watch Raudabaugh explain his decision below: