04/07/2026
Mervin Raudabaugh is 86 years old. He's farmed 261 acres in Silver Spring Township, Pennsylvania for over 60 years. His mother died in his arms on that land in the mid-1950s when he was still in high school. He was milking cows before class every morning. He missed 31 days his senior year. "And they never missed me. I was that popular," he joked. "Just kidding." 💛
He raised his children there with his late wife, Anna Mae. He's watched deer, turtles, and wildlife move through it for six decades. He knows every inch.
Then data center developers came knocking. They offered him $60,000 per acre. For 261 acres, that's $15.7 million. It was part of a package deal involving three neighboring landowners. The developers wanted to build a data center on his property. They were relentless. "These people have hounded the living daylights out of me," Raudabaugh told Lancaster Farming. 😳
He said no.
"I was not interested in destroying my farms. 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."
Instead, he sold the development rights in December to the Lancaster Farmland Trust for just under $2 million. A fraction of what he was offered. But the deal guarantees his land will remain farmland forever. No data centers. No warehouses. No development. Not now, not after he's gone.
When asked why he took $2 million over $15 million, his answer was three words: "God's green Earth." 💔
He's not naive about what's happening around him. A data center is already being built in nearby Middlesex Township. He knows the pressure other families face. He knows most people can't turn down that kind of money, especially as farming costs rise and land prices skyrocket. He doesn't blame them.
"It breaks my heart to think of what's going to take place here, because only the land that's preserved here is going to be here. The rest of every square inch is going to get built on. The American farm family is definitely in trouble."
His land is safe now. The farm where his mother took her last breath. The farm where he raised his kids. The farm he chose over $15 million.
Because some things aren't for sale.
