Meet the 82-year-old Kentucky grandma who turned down $26 million to turn her farm into a data center: ‘I don’t need your money’

Ida Huddleston, an 82-year-old Kentucky grandmother, turned down a life-changing $26 million offer to sell her family's 1,200-acre farmland outside Maysville for a proposed data center. The company, an unnamed major artificial intelligence firm, approached numerous landowners in Mason County about purchasing half of the Huddleston family's property for the data center campus.

Huddleston and her daughter, Delsia Bare, were offered over $4 million and $22 million respectively, far exceeding the average price for farmland in the county. Despite the substantial financial offer, Huddleston refuses to sell, citing concerns over the potential environmental impact and lack of tangible benefits. Huddleston, who has lived on the same land since she was 16, calls the offer a scam and warns that the promised jobs and economic growth may not materialize.

The project, however, continues despite the Huddleston family's refusal, as the company has acquired land from other willing sellers. A zoning request has been filed to rezone nearly 28 agricultural parcels, totaling over 2,000 acres, and the local planning commission has approved the rezoning. Huddleston remains steadfast in her opposition, emphasizing that she does not need the company's money, but she does feel sorry for those affected by the project.

The Huddlestons' stand-off against the data center project is part of a broader conflict occurring across rural America, with residents across the country opposing data center developments on their land.