IN 2025 , AN AI DATA CENTER PLAN PUT A KENTUCKY FAMILY FARMLAND IN DEVELOPER SIGHTS ; A MOTHER AND DAUGHTER REFUSED $26 MILLION AND KEPT THEIR LAND

What happened: In 2025 an unnamed Fortune 100 company offered $26 million for part of a Kentucky family's farmland to build a data center campus near Maysville. Ida Huddleston and her daughter Delsia Bare refused and kept the land. Key numbers: $26 million offer; roughly 1,200 acres in Mason County, Ky.; approach in April 2025; data centers used about 4.4% of U.S. Why it matters: The report frames the push for data center land as a fight that could alter the future of farmland throughout Kentucky, with some landowners wanting to sell and others wanting to protect their farms.

In 2025 an unnamed Fortune 100 company offered $26 million for part of a Kentucky family's farmland to build a data center campus near Maysville. Ida Huddleston and her daughter Delsia Bare refused and kept the land.

The report frames the push for data center land as a fight that could alter the future of farmland throughout Kentucky, with some landowners wanting to sell and others wanting to protect their farms.