Believe it or not: Farmers reject Dh97 million offer to turn family land into AI data centre

Dubai: Two farmers in Kentucky have rejected a Dh97.25 million ($26.48 million) offer for land that has been in their family for generations, after learning that the property was being sought for a vast data centre intended to support artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Delsia Bare and her mother, Ida Huddleston, initially agreed to sell parts of their farmland near Maysville before withdrawing from the deal once they discovered the proposed use, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper reported that the project would be a 2.2-gigawatt hyperscale data centre and that new evidence indicated the company behind it was Meta. Meta said no decision had been made about working in the area.

The sums involved were far above what the land would ordinarily command. Bare was offered $48,000 an acre for 463 acres, worth about $22.2 million, while Huddleston was offered $60,000 an acre for 71 acres, or about $4.26 million. Together, the proposed deals were worth $26.48 million.

But for the mother and daughter, the decision ultimately became less about money than what would happen to land their family had farmed since the 19th century.

“Kick rocks and don’t come back,” Bare told a representative after succeeding in withdrawing from the agreements, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Bare, 54, said her Christian faith also influenced her refusal. She told the newspaper that she believed she had a responsibility to remain on and care for the land, and feared being held accountable if she allowed it to become an AI hub.

“If I step off of this piece of property and it becomes something for an AI hub, then I have failed to occupy,” she said, adding that she believed she could face judgment for that decision.

Huddleston, who is in her 80s, has taken a similarly firm position. She previously told local media that she did not need the money and wanted the property passed to the next generation.

The family’s connection to the property stretches back to 1848, when their ancestors began acquiring farmland in the area. The land has since been used for cattle, hay, tobacco and other agricultural purposes. The offers put a value on their acreage close to 10 times what comparable farmland might fetch on the open market, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The proposed development has become a source of unusually bitter division in Maysville, a Kentucky city of about 8,700 people roughly 60 miles south-east of Cincinnati.

Supporters see the project as an economic opportunity for a rural community that has struggled to retain young workers and attract large employers.

Tyler McHugh, economic development director for the Maysville-Mason County Industrial Development Authority, has said the development could create about 400 permanent jobs and more than 1,500 construction jobs, potentially making it one of the area’s biggest employers.

Some neighbouring landowners have already agreed to sell and are awaiting multimillion-dollar payments. But opponents have raised concerns over the scale of the development, its potential demand for electricity and water, and the secrecy surrounding the company behind it.

The project, initially envisaged on about 700 acres, later expanded into plans for a hyperscale campus covering more than 2,000 acres, according to McHugh.

Bare and other opponents have taken their fight to court. Two lawsuits were filed challenging the proposed data centre, creating uncertainty that delayed the completion of some land purchases. One case was dismissed by a judge in August, while another remained active, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The dispute has at times placed neighbours on opposite sides of legal proceedings.

“Some of those people would have gone their entire lives without being brought into a courtroom, let alone being sued by a neighbour who lives three miles down the street,” McHugh told the newspaper.

As technology companies race to secure the enormous computing capacity required for artificial intelligence, data centres are increasingly moving into communities far removed from Silicon Valley, bringing promises of investment and jobs alongside disputes over land, power and water.

Bare said she never expected such a battle to arrive at her family farm.

“I never thought I’d be in a battle with a data centre,” she told The Wall Street Journal. “I thought I was about as far out in the boondocks as you could get.”