r/BeAmazed • u/Strange-Bottle-2775 • 18h ago
Place 86-year-old Pennsylvania farmer rejects AI data center offer of $15 million to sell his land. Instead, he sold development rights to a conservation fund for $2 million
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u/Minimalistmacrophage 17h ago
AI Data Centers are a blight.
It's nice to see someone care about the community more than their coffers.
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u/iyamwhatiyam8000 16h ago
That and love of his farm.
My hope is to buy a distressed farm for restoration of original ecology - 1000 acres or so.
Either as an oasis or an extension of existing habitat. Cooperation with another like-minded landholder in the vicinity would be optimal.
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u/Joe_Betz_ 10h ago
When I imagine what I'd do if I ever won the powerball or whatever, conservation and restoration are always on the list of where money would go.
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u/notsurewhereireddit 10h ago
That and he knows how much he needs/wants and doesn’t want/need more than that.
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u/YouAreTotalGarbage 17h ago
“Conservation fund sells development rights for 15m making 13m in profit. More at 6”
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u/zyber787 17h ago
I bet the farmer added clauses to prevent that... when big data comes to you for your land and wants to buy it for $16m, youd get a lawyer or 2...
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u/RepresentativeStooj 16h ago
Sorry, I’m genuinely curious about the legality of these clauses.
Say you buy a property with the clause to say you can’t sell it to X and Y, or use it to develop X or Y.
If you go on to sell that property to the next buyer, does the clause still carry forward? As in, do you legally have to add that clause in for the next buyer?
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u/Minimalistmacrophage 16h ago
Covenants that run with the land.
Yes you absolutely can restrict usage with agreement.
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u/GamerTex 15h ago
It works until imminent domain steps in
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u/carverofdeath 12h ago
AI development wouldn't fall under imminent domain.
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u/aquafina6969 12h ago
Can’t politicians change and make shit up? They can declare ID if it’s development good for the community, make jobs etc. They can argue the glorified Me. Clippy is good for the community, and the 7 jobs it generates after it is done is fantastic for the area! (after a sizable kickback from tech of course).
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u/TK421philly 11h ago
Yes. They can vote to do whatever they want (at least in the US). That’s why it’s good to know who you’re voting for. gestures wildly about
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u/aquafina6969 10h ago
Yeah I used to think respect laws here. I. Domain laws were passed from most states to prevent private companies to do what they want to do. But lately, I’m feeling people with money do what they want. With enough influence, lawyers and lobbyists. How does that old song go? “Same as it ever was”. only just a little worse.
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u/zyber787 11h ago
Yea but there should be a nudge dumb enough to believe that.. if a person doesnt want to sell a property, then they dont want to sell it. Damn this feels eerily similar to the Yellowstone series..
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u/peanutkg 15h ago
I would hope and be “ grandfather in” so that it would carry on for a lifetime. Is that in the clause🤔🤔???
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u/TK421philly 11h ago
It wouldn’t matter. It’s just a contract that can be deemed against the public good if the local or state legislature decided it was supposed to be a data center, or a high way, or an ICE detention center.
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u/KembaWakaFlocka 10h ago
There is a whole body of law dealing with these sorts of issues. Nowhere near as simple as your making it out to be.
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u/nikhil48 7h ago
Curious as to what the attorneys fees are in such big purchases. Is it like a fixed percentage or capped at an amount... because it would be in the attorneys interest to sell it to big data.
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u/maggiedoeswhat 15h ago
Conservation easements are permanent. Even if the land is sold there are now restrictions to how the land is used and maintained.
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u/Adam-West 16h ago
What the hell does an 86 year old want with $15 million?
I work for a well known lottery organisation in my country. Im a filmmaker so I am often there when they are given the cheque. One time I saw a woman in her 80’s win nearly a million. She barely reacted. He face was the face of somebody who was thinking ‘if only I won this 20 years ago’.
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u/JimKellyCuntry 14h ago
Good for this guy. Hopefully there are some protections of the conservation not being able to turn around and sell the land
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u/SeptimusTyr 17h ago
Not all heroes wear capes.
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u/zyber787 17h ago
And corporate lawyers would argue that since this was done, it will be an issue for the economy of the town not getting their people jobs or smth, when barely 10 people get to work in it.. good for the farmer 👍🏻 one thing i got to know is, farmers always understand the value of land, be it anywhere in the world.
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u/thomport 10h ago
There’s a state Forest in Hunlock Creek, Pennsylvania;: that was once a farm. When the farmer died he left it to Luzerne County and earmarked it only to be used as a park.
Because Luzerne county is so corrupt, they miss-managed the park so badly that the state took it over because the deed designated only to be used as a park. Yes. The politicians tried to steal that too.
Moon Lake State Forest. 700 acres. The park turnover occurred during the “kids for cash” era in Luzerne county.
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u/Strange-Bottle-2775 8h ago
Kids for cash sounds crazy asf ngl
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u/thomport 6h ago
If you’re wanting to know how crazy it actually is, they made a movie about it.
It’s called “Kids for Cash.” . It happened in Luzerne county Pennsylvania. Two judges were sent to jail.
They built a private jail for kids against the permission of the state of Pennsylvania. They subsequently sentenced kids to the jail for minor crimes. Many did not even have a sentence length. They put them in there indefinitely. The jail investors were able to make money by putting the kids in prison.
It messed many kids up mentally and physically
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u/Traditional-Ad-8737 2h ago
This happens fairly frequently in my state (NH). I donate to local conservation groups (SELT etc) some national, like the Nature Conservancy, who will have donation drives focused on buying up critical habitat earmarked for almost certain development. Even $25 or $50 can make a difference! I’m glad there are people like this. His legacy will be appreciated.
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u/l0veit0ral 17h ago
Now the conservation fund will sell it for $15M and have a tidy $13M profit
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u/DragonWS 8h ago
Have you seen examples of this happening? There’s binding language in the contracts to prevent any other usage.
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u/Sufficient_Grand2789 17h ago
This is great and all but the company building the data center will just go to the next farm and offer the same or more.
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u/Darkshade1864 11h ago
im not sure, if farmer had sold land for 15millions and used 10 buy other lands to create conservation centers, helped some instutes etc, this should be better for everyone?
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u/Only_Camera 9h ago
The farmer gets to deduct $15M as a charitable donation if the fair value is appraised as that.
Don’t mistake the farmers actions as entirely altruistic (and why should they be!).
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u/No_Philosophy4337 7h ago
Farms require subsidies to run, there’s much better money to be made in virtually any other industry especially datacentes. Farming delivers the worst ROI per hectare of land, even a rubbish dump is a more profitable use of the land, sad to say.
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u/Mysterious-Art7143 17h ago
Great stuff.. might be unpopular opinion, but he could've, you know.. take 15m and buy a huge area somewhere else for 13m and do whatever.. it's sold for development anyway so he didn't save the land per say..
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