A Kentucky woman is turning down $26M to turn her farm into a data center

For generations, Ida Huddleston and her family have owned a farm in northern Kentucky. And they refused one multi-million dollar license to keep it.

Last year, a “big smart company” offered them $26 million to sell part of their farm to build a data center, according to a recent report from WKRC. Huddleston and his family refused, saying they didn’t want a data center built near them or on their 1,200-acre farm outside Maysville, Kentucky.

“They call us stupid old farmers, you know, but we’re not,” Huddleston, who is 82, told Local 12 WKRC. “We know that when our food is gone, our fields are dying, and we don’t have water – it’s poison. We know we’ve had it,” he seems to be saying recently. lack of water and soil pollution it has been commonly reported in the world near the data center.

In a press conference, Huddleston said he doubts the data center will bring jobs or economic growth to Mason County. “It’s a lie,” he said.

The company, which WKRC did not name, revised its plans and filed an application to redevelop more than 2,000 acres of land in northern Kentucky, according to the report — meaning the AI ​​company could still build its data center near the Huddleston site.