A farmer from Pennsylvania has turned down an offer on his property that would have made him a multimillionaire.
Mervin Raudabaugh, 86, was offered $15 million for 261 acres of land by a data center developer. He politely declined and decided to sell development rights to the Lancaster Farmland Trust (LFT), a nonprofit that will make sure his land is only ever used for farming.
"It was my life," Raudabaugh told Fox43 News in the video below about why he didn’t want to sell the rights to the farmland to developers. "I told [the data center company] no, I was not interested in destroying my farms.
Raudabaugh said that the data center developer was relentless in trying to convince him to sell his rights.
"These people have hounded the living daylights out of me," Raudabaugh said, according to Realtor.
According to LFT CEO Jeff Swineheart, employees for the data center developer “walk up farm lanes and knock on doors, and if they get a no, they come back again.”
Raudabaugh sold his rights for $2 million to LFT, a nonprofit that ensures his land will be preserved. If it’s sold in the future, it will only be to someone who uses it for agricultural purposes.
The LFT has been important for preserving land in Pennsylvania since it was founded in 1988. The organization stewards over 38,310 acres with 618 conservation easements.