Data centers take up a lot of real estate, and developers get it, either by kicking people out of their homes using eminent domain or by buying farmland in rural areas. But as government officials push for the continued expansion of data centers across the United States, many residents are pushing back to prevent these gigantic, water-sucking, energy-guzzling buildings from appearing in their communities. A Pennsylvania farmer showed how far he would go, financially, to resist.
Mervin Raudabaugh evidently rejected an offer of approximately $15.7 million to develop an AI data center on his 261-acre property. This astronomical sum – which equates to around $60,000 per acre – would have allowed his land to be used to build a massive facility housing computers, technology and devices, all designed to power AI. Raudabaugh declined the offer, but he struck a deal with a voter-backed preservation program worth $1.9 million. That agreement — worth closer to $7,200 an acre — creates a conservation easement on Raudabaugh’s land that prevents any future development for commercial, industrial or residential purposes. He still owns the land and can sell it in the future, but it can only be used for agriculture.
More and more landowners are resisting
Serg Grbanoff/Shutterstock
This is not the first time farmers have turned down major offers from companies looking to buy their land to build an AI data center. Another story saw a Kentucky family, owners of a 1,200-acre farm, turn down a $26 million offer for half of their land in April 2025. The offer was made by an anonymous buyer, and while the average land value in their area was about $6,000 an acre at the time, that offer was more than $43,000 an acre.
The farmers said they would not want their farm, which has been in their family for generations, to be turned into a data center. Instead of the peaceful sounds of farm life, animals grazing and wind in the fields, it all might have looked and sounded rather different to the family. Constant buzzing and rising bills could be what life near a data center is like. Other families in the area eventually sold their properties, but the community is now trying to rezone the acreage to prevent data centers from being built.
Why are data centers looking to buy land?
Gerville/Getty Images
AI data centers require large areas of land, sometimes hundreds of acres, in order to construct the massive buildings needed to store the RAM, computers, and devices needed for the AI to function. Additionally, they are used to house servers, networking equipment, and support systems such as cooling, power backup, and security, all necessary to ensure that everything runs smoothly in the building.
One of the largest AI data centers in the United States is in Shelby, Tennessee. The site, known as Colossus 2, began operating in 2026 and was built by xAI. It is located on 100 acres of land and the current building occupies a total of 1,000,000 square feet. Riot Platforms Rockdale, located in Texas, spans 200 acres of land and includes 430,000 square feet of IT space.
AI data centers also use generators to power resources, with thousands of them in use at one of these AI data centers in Northern Virginia. They can be the size of a train car and can not only be noisy, but also cause air quality problems. AI data centers may be quite large and take up large swathes of land, but one tech company wants to install a mini data center in your home in the future.
