![\"Family](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-129870757,imgsize-824310,width-400,resizemode-4\/no-data-center.jpg\" "\\"Kentucky")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nA farming family in northern Kentucky has turned down a $26 million offer from a Fortune 100 company seeking to build a large AI-linked data centre, choosing instead to keep land they say carries far greater value than money.The decision by the Huddleston family has drawn attention as a clash between expanding digital infrastructure and long-held agricultural land, a tension playing out across parts of the United States. <\/p>\n The Huddleston family\u2019s 1,200-acre farm in Mason County, Kentucky, has been worked for generations, producing cattle that supply the wider region. The land has endured through major historical periods, including the Great Depression, when the family helped feed local communities. That continuity is now under pressure. According to Delsia Bare, a member of the family, an undisclosed company approached them in April last year with an offer of $26 million for roughly 900 acres of the property, located just outside Maysville city limits. The plan is to build a large-scale data centre campus. \u201cThe heartbreak that it [the land] could be gone is the first thing I feel. Literally a pain in the chest right there where the heart\u2019s at,\u201d Bare told Live 5 WCSC.<\/a><\/p>\n Delsia Bare and her mother, Ida Huddleston, reject $26 million offer, calling generational Kentucky farmland priceless\/ Image: Fox 19<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Her mother, Ida Huddleston, rejected the proposal outright. \u201cI said, \u2018No, mine is priceless.\u2019 What I\u2019ve got here, I want to pass it down. What God told me to do was to keep it until I was through with it and then pass it on to the next generation,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n The proposed development would extend beyond the Huddleston land. Plans indicate the rezoning of 28 properties, covering more than 2,000 acres in total.Matt Wallingford, Maysville City Manager, told the outlet the scale of the potential project is significant, calling it \u201ca big deal for us.\u201d Wallingford said the data centre could generate more than 1,000 construction jobs over eight to 10 years, along with more than 100 permanent roles averaging $100,000 a year. He also noted that a state tariff would require the company to fund additional infrastructure. \u201cI know it is a lot, but I know the state of Kentucky has passed a tariff requiring the project to pay for all of the power, that means building a second power plant equivalent to the one we have now, no cost to taxpayers. There will be no rate increase to those who receive electricity from RECC,\u201d he said. He added that the facility would use a closed-loop water system to reduce contamination risks, and that its waste output would be comparable to existing large retailers or factories. <\/p>\n For the Huddleston family, the issue extends beyond a single sale. They have raised concerns about strain on water systems, pressure on the power grid and the permanent loss of fertile agricultural land. \u201cThey call us all stupid farmers, you know, but we\u2019re not. We know when our food is disappearing, our land is disappearing,\u201d the family said. Wallingford acknowledged those concerns but suggested the land could still retain value even if its use changes. \u201cI would agree with that,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it doesn\u2019t mean that the buildings can\u2019t be reutilized with that infrastructure there. Our industrial authority would be recruiting a new business to come in, so I think that land will be valuable whether that data center is there.\u201d <\/p>\n For Ida Huddleston, the decision is also personal. Her home on the land was built by her late husband, and she says she intends to remain there. \u201cHe\u2019s here all the time right with me and tells me what I\u2019m going to have to do with the farm the next day and the next day, just like he would like it to be. He was something else,\u201d she said. Both she and Bare have made clear that no financial offer will change their position. The family has said it will continue to resist the proposed development, even as pressure grows from a project that local officials say could reshape the region\u2019s economy.<\/div>\nA generational farm at the centre of a growing dispute <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Farm](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-129870361\/farm-land-data-centre.jpg\" "\\"Delsia")
<\/p>\nA project with economic weight <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Concerns over land, water and long-term impact <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMine is priceless\u201d <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n