Tennessee’s plans to use eminent domain to seize privately-owned farmland for Ford’s $5.6 billion “mega campus” project, BlueOval City, have sparked concern among local farmers. The state government has committed $884 million in incentives to Ford, including the formation of an 11-person board with the power to seize land.
The planned BlueOval City campus in western Tennessee will be the site for building both electric trucks and batteries. The state is seeking 35 separate tracts to connect the campus to I-40, and so far, it has taken possession of 15 tracts.
The use of eminent domain has raised concerns among farmers who own the targeted tracts of land. They worry that they won’t be adequately compensated for their land. One farmer who spoke with the Tennessee Lookout stated that the state was offering him less than $4,000 per acre, far below the average value of Tennessee farmland, which was $4,700 per acre in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Eminent domain is a controversial power that allows the government to take private property for public use, but it is supposed to be used only after adequate compensation is offered to the affected parties.
