13/10/2026
The offer was more than $15 million. Mervin Raudabaugh chose a future with fields instead.
The Pennsylvania farmer, 86 when his decision was reported, owned two adjoining farms in Cumberland County. Developers wanted the land for data centers. To him, it held decades of work, family life and memories no sale could replace.
He had milked cows for 51 years. He had watched the farm where he was born disappear beneath warehouses, its house and barn torn down. He did not want these farms to follow the same path.
So he worked with Lancaster Farmland Trust and Silver Spring Township to protect 261 acres through a conservation easement. The agreement, completed in December 2025, restricts development while allowing the land to remain in agricultural use.
He received roughly $1.9 million for those development rights, funded through the townshipâs voter-approved preservation program. He kept ownership of the farms. The choice was to accept far less money in return for lasting protection.
What he wanted was room for another farm family to build a life there one day. That possibility mattered more to him than the largest number on the table.
A field can be priced by the acre. What someone hopes will grow there is harder to measure.
Sources: Lancaster Farming, republished by WeConservePA; La NaciĂłn, March 2026.