Overview
- The Huddleston family this week rejected a $26 million proposal to buy roughly half of their 1,200‑acre Mason County farm and retained ownership of the property.
- The offer amounted to about ten times typical local land prices, with the buyer proposing payouts that together exceeded $26 million for multiple family parcels.
- Ida Huddleston and her daughter Delsia Bare said they refused the sale to protect productive farmland, local food production, groundwater and family legacy, and they told local reporters they distrust promises of jobs and safety.
- Reporting says the prospective buyer remains unnamed but approached many nearby landowners and that some sold their parcels; local filings and reporting indicate rezoning requests for adjacent tracts have been advanced, leaving the project able to proceed next to the Huddleston property.
- Industry context in the coverage notes AI‑focused data centers need very high electricity and cooling capacity, which can increase local power and water demand and is driving above‑market rural land offers and community pushback nationwide.