Mervin Raudabaugh, an 86-year-old farmer in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, rejected a $15.7 million offer from data center developers for his 261-acre farm, choosing instead to preserve the land for agriculture through a conservation easement worth just under $2 million.
The developer had offered Raudabaugh $60,000 per acre to sell his property in Silver Spring Township, where he has lived for decades. “I was not interested in destroying my farms,” Raudabaugh told Fox 43 in February. “That was the bottom line. It really wasn’t so much the economic end of it. I just didn’t want to see these two farms destroyed.”
Raudabaugh milked cows for 51 years on the property, and his mother died in his arms inside a barn there. In December, he sold the development rights to the Lancaster Farmland Trust, a nonprofit that holds and enforces the conservation easement. The arrangement ensures the land can only be used for farming in perpetuity, even if Raudabaugh eventually sells the property itself.
The preservation became possible through a voter-approved referendum passed by Silver Spring Township in 2013, which dedicates a portion of earned income tax to protect farmland, forests, and open space. The cost to taxpayers averages about $120 per household annually. The township compensated the Lancaster Farmland Trust to administer the easement and offered Raudabaugh the full appraised easement value plus an additional $2,500-per-acre incentive payment, allowing him to accept far less than the developers offered.
Raudabaugh’s choice reflects a growing tension across Pennsylvania. A consortium of 96 farming families elsewhere in the state agreed in 2026 to sell roughly 1,700 acres for approximately $586 million to a major AI data center developer, according to multiple reports. Meanwhile, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, representing 24,000 members, voted in July 2026 to endorse a statewide moratorium on data center construction, citing concerns about agricultural land loss and environmental impact.
On August 18, 2026, Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order imposing strict new requirements on data center development in Pennsylvania. The order eliminates fast-tracked permit approvals and requires developers to meet the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development, or GRID, standards—including commitments to bring their own power, commit to 32% renewables by 2035, and pay for infrastructure upgrades themselves rather than passing costs to ratepayers. Shapiro accused data center developers of “predatory” behavior, noting that while no AI data centers are yet operating in Pennsylvania, developers have been “aggressive with township officials, bullying our neighbors and refusing to listen to the people of Pennsylvania.”
The executive order also gives priority to local authorities, blocking state approvals if communities reject projects and requiring developers to negotiate community benefits agreements if local approval is granted. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection was directed to develop new regulations limiting data center pollution and water usage.
Raudabaugh said developers have continued to contact him even after the preservation was finalized. “These people have hounded the living daylights out of me,” he said, according to Lancaster Farming. He plans to continue growing corn and soybeans on the property for at least the next growing season.
Sources
- ABC27 — Raudabaugh’s sale of development rights to Lancaster Farmland Trust for $2 million and the Silver Spring Township preservation program details
- Fortune — Raudabaugh’s $15.7 million rejection, his quotes about preserving the farms, and context on farm economic strain
- Lancaster Farming — Details on the $60,000-per-acre offer, the $2,500 incentive payment, the 2013 referendum, and Raudabaugh’s personal history on the farm
- WHYY — Governor Shapiro’s August 18, 2026 executive order, GRID standards, and accusations of “predatory” developer behavior
- DataForSEO search results — Pennsylvania Farm Bureau endorsement of moratorium in July 2026 and the 96-family consortium selling 1,700 acres for $586 million
