Kentucky farm family turns down $26M offer for AI data center land

In short: A Kentucky farm family says it refused a $26 million offer from a major AI company to buy farmland for a data center.

What happened

Ida Huddleston, an 82-year-old farmer in Maysville, Kentucky, told WKRC Local 12 that she and her family rejected a $26 million offer from an unnamed major AI company. The company wanted to buy about 600 acres, or roughly half of the family’s 1,200-acre farm.

The offer was made around April 2025 and was reported to be about 7 to 10 times the local market rate. Huddleston said the family was worried about losing farmland and what that could mean for food production. She also raised concerns about water shortages and possible pollution from data centers.

A data center is a large building filled with computers that store and process information, like a warehouse for the internet. Huddleston also questioned promises about local jobs, calling them a “scam.” She said that while construction can bring temporary work, data centers typically need relatively few staff to run day to day.

Even after the family said no, the company reportedly changed its approach. It filed a zoning request to rezone more than 2,000 acres of nearby agricultural land, which could allow building next to the Huddleston farm. As of March 2026, reports said there were no further public developments on the zoning request.

Why it matters

As more AI services expand, companies are looking for land, electricity, and water to support data centers. This story shows the push and pull between that growth and communities that want to protect farmland and local resources.

Source: TechCrunch AI