Pennsylvania farmer Mervin Raudabaugh sold development rights to a land trust for $1.9 million instead
FOX43 News/Youtube
NEED TO KNOW
- A Pennsylvania town is applauding an elderly farmer who refused to sell his land to data center developers
- Mervin Raudabaugh, 86, was reportedly offered over $15 million for his 261-acre farmland
- “I love this land. It’s been my life,” he said of one of his reasons for declining the offer
An elderly Pennsylvania man turned down an offer of more than $15 million to sell his land to data center developers.
In an interview published on Feb. 16, Mervin Raudabaugh, 86, of Cumberland County, shared why he opted out of the $60,000 per acre that developers offered for his 261 acres in an interview with local outlet Fox 43.
“I was not interested in destroying my farms,” Raudabaugh, who has spent roughly 60 years farming in Silver Spring Township, told the news station. “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.”
He also spoke with Penn Live about how the home and the land it sits on hold a special place in his heart.
When his mother died in his arms in the mid-1950s, she did so in the farmland on Green Hill Road, forcing him to lean into farming to take care of his family despite being a junior in high school at the time.
“I was responsible for milking those cows before I went to high school. And I missed 31 days my senior year, and they never missed me. I was that popular. Just kidding,” Raudabaugh quipped.
“But I loved it,” he said.
It’s also the same home where he and his late wife, Anna Mae, raised their children.
Raudabaugh spoke with both news outlets about the land’s sentimental value, but added that another reason he refused to give in to the data center developers was because he cares about the future of farming.
"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," he told Fox 43. "The rest of every square inch is going to get built on. The American farm family is definitely in trouble."
After seeing new construction in his town, which drove some residents out, Raudabaugh decided to sell the development rights to Silver Spring Township’s Land Preservation Program for just under $1.9 million, per Penn Live.
The program was established in January 2014 as a proactive response to community desires for land preservation of properties with at least 10 acres of open space, woodlands, farmland, waterway protection or wetlands, per its website.
Raudabaugh said his land has that and more.
“You won't find that anywhere else,” he told Fox 43. “You'd have to look awfully hard to find that much good land. It's a mecca for wildlife, and everything from deer to turtles.”
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When asked by Penn Live why he chose to make a deal with the conservation group instead, he said it’s because he respects “God’s green Earth.”
“I love this land. It’s been my life,” Raudabaugh said. “And I realized … if it wasn’t built on or dug up, another set of families could live here and that’s what I wanted to do. And I got it done. And I’m happy.”
Since the historic deal, he’s become the talk of the town, telling Fox 43, “Friends of mine here are very happy with what I've done.”
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