How many are ENERGY Farming

[bmaverick]

Seems that farmers who can't get crops to turn a good yield or the market isn't paying like it should or weather conditions are difficult to grow hay grasses or droughts, and nobody has the cash to buy all that land, what do you do? Seems ENERGY farming is taking off.

Not just a mere acre or two, we are taking 10's and 100's or acres now being taken up. This means no livestock pastures nor hay fields growing either. Less food production in the USA.

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/farmers-across-america-solar-power-may-spell-trouble

Soy and corn are cash crops for the oil and ethanol industry. It's not hard to understand how all that works. Sure the 1,000's of acres or literally thousands of miles in the USA are dedicated to these two crops for industry.

Yet, another industry is now seeing a huge inroads on taking up much land - - - SOLAR.

What once was livestock or crop use, has turned into ENERGY uses.

Vermont is one of only 15 states with statewide solar decommissioning requirements, as described in a December 2021 report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Despite the state’s relatively stringent regulation of the energy source, Smith believes the status quo still leaves farmland vulnerable.

So about 15 states realize how farmland is vital for food and economic welfare to our kitchen tables.

I'm not at all against ENERGY, but big ENERGY farms do raise a concern. My farm uses wind and solar as a supplemental means using very little space as a footprint. It's sad to see pasture and hay fields taken over for ENERGY mass production.

From the 90s till now, much farmland has been taken over and become suburbia. Much of the northeastern states and a huge chunk of OH are now like this. Add in the ENERGY farms to supply power to the suburbia madness and there isn't much of open land any place in those regions.

There are pros/cons to each side of this coin. Awareness helps people to understand a balance is needed and a dynamic approach to solve ENERGY dependencies too.

Let's have a friendly discussion here of how our parts of the country are changing or shaping up in regards to,

ENERGY Farming or Farm for Energy

 

[bdhsfz6]

Luckily, farmers have a choice. Wind farms can coexist with crops:

Wind energy gives American farmers a new crop to sell in tough times

In an increasingly precarious time for the nation’s farmers and ranchers, some in the wind belt have a new commodity to sell: access to the wind.

www.usatoday.com

 

[bmaverick]

Luckily, farmers have a choice. Wind farms can coexist with crops:

Wind energy gives American farmers a new crop to sell in tough times

In an increasingly precarious time for the nation’s farmers and ranchers, some in the wind belt have a new commodity to sell: access to the wind.

www.usatoday.com

Yes, but wind farms can not coexist with livestock. The studies out of the EU have showed health risks to various livestock types.

My state has a huge amount of those sky scrapper wind generation towers with blades. I'm talking about several hundred to assist in powering Chicago. North above the I-80 along the I-39 corridor is this huge fleet going for 30+ miles. Here's a snapped image on a foggy morning at the rest stop just south of Rochelle-IL.

More down the I-39

Then some 20 miles north of all these is the NUKE plant.

The intent of the wind and solar is to decommission this NUKE plant in the 2022-2023 time frame.
The facility is patterned after the 3-mile island facility and owned by the same company as well.

 

[bdhsfz6]

Yes, but wind farms can not coexist with livestock. The studies out of the EU have showed health risks to various livestock types.

My state has a huge amount of those sky scrapper wind generation towers with blades. I'm talking about several hundred to assist in powering Chicago. North above the I-80 along the I-39 corridor is this huge fleet going for 30+ miles. Here's a snapped image on a foggy morning at the rest stop just south of Rochelle-IL.
View attachment 728389

More down the I-39

View attachment 728390
View attachment 728391

Then some 20 miles north of all these is the NUKE plant.

View attachment 728392

The intent of the wind and solar is to decommission this NUKE plant in the 2022-2023 time frame.
The facility is patterned after the 3-mile island facility and owned by the same company as well.

My home state of PA is a big wind energy producer. Farmers raise beef and dairy cattle in close proximity to these turbines.

I suppose it depends on what source you want to believe.

https://www.centerforecotechnology.org/wind_turbine_myths_busted/

 

[Rebeldad1]

Can you explain more why the animals cant co-exist? would be interesting to know.

 

[Hay Dude]

Boy I hope that doesn't ever make it to my neighborhood. We have pastoral farm lands where the Battle of The Brandywine took place in the Revolutionary War. That would certainly compromise the historical landscape.
I say put that stuff in Marthas Vineyard or Hollywood. Lol

Id prefer the American built NUKE plant. Put it all in one spot and leave open the possibility of a lot of conserved open space. Don‘t need every acre in the shadows of a wind farm or solar panels.

 

[ponytug]

Sheep do quite well under solar, as do a number of berry crops in some locales. People tend not to graze cattle under solar because cattle tend to rub on pretty much everything and they are not weak.

I am unaware of any studies showing problems with typical livestock and modern wind power generation, but perhaps there are links out there?

In general though, unless there are subsidies, high daily sunshine tends to be better sites for solar than places where it rains enough for good crops.

All the best,

Peter

 

[LHF2019]

My mom's hope soon to be officially ex husband wants to take the farm and do solar. You can imagine how that sits. He does a lot of talking and a lot of taking what isn't his so don't know how serious but if he gets it my farming career is over and 4 generations of ground down the drain.

 

[lman]

Here's an example of 13,000 acres prime cropland being taken out of commission to make fuel for electric cars.

Work starting on 13,000-acre solar farm in northern Indiana

An Israeli company has started work to build a solar energy farm that’s planned to cover some 13,000 acres (5,261 hectares) across two northern Indiana counties when completed.

www.tribstar.com

 

[Hay Dude]

Here's an example of 13,000 acres prime cropland being taken out of commission to make fuel for electric cars.

Work starting on 13,000-acre solar farm in northern Indiana

An Israeli company has started work to build a solar energy farm that’s planned to cover some 13,000 acres (5,261 hectares) across two northern Indiana counties when completed.

www.tribstar.com

Wow, thats going to look amazing when its done! Lol

 

[Tinhack]

That Tribune Star link won't let secured PCs read the page. All that says to me is they are trying to read files on my computer.

 

[K5lwq]

Wow. I guess one day we will be able to drive our electric cars to the local food bank for our daily rations.

 

[fishdrivel]

In California, much of the farmland cannot be watered. Water goes dowstream to the oceal to protect fish, such as the Delta Smelt.
Farmers get huge fines for plowing their fields "incorrectly"
They're still talking about methane generators on cow's ass's to catch their farts!

 

[lman]

That Tribune Star link won't let secured PCs read the page. All that says to me is they are trying to read files on my computer.

Try it on your phone or tablet. Your pc must need a change to some settings.

 

[Jchonline]

The intent of the wind and solar is to decommission this NUKE plant in the 2022-2023 time frame.
The facility is patterned after the 3-mile island facility and owned by the same company as well.

Now that is absolutely ridiculous. What is powering everything when then Sun isnt shining? When the wind isnt blowing?

I also just saw something in the news about IL asking these nuclear plant owners to keep their plants open for longer.

 

[5030]

I find the term 'Solar Farm' to be laughable. The solar advocates use the term to make it sound more agricultural and acceptable when, in fact, none of them are farms. They are all industrial installations that take productive farmland out of production. Nothing more.

I'm more concerned with eating than having a solar installation gobbling up viable cropland. To that end, I'm totally opposed to them.

read an article about how some solar operators are considering growing crops in the 'dead space' between panel arrays. Sure like to know what crops can be gown in that limited space. Maybe Cannibis? Certainly not row crops. Not enough room to fit, plant or harvest anything that I know of.

If the sun don't shine or the wind don't blow, none of those installations produce any viable power. It's all phooey in my view.

 

[5030]

The title of this thread is misleading anyway. Not 'farming' but rather collecting. Collecting energy produced by the sun and wind. No farming involved that I can see.

 

[K5lwq]

You just have to plant the panel seed a little deeper. It will not germinate if it is not in moisture.

 

[oosik]

In the last few years - hundreds of wind generators down south of me. In the heart of the Palouse. It doesn't seem to be reducing the wheat fields. Most of these "windmills" are on the ridge lines where farming is most difficult.

No solar farms. Too much snow and wind blown dust. Probably just not enough sunny days.

 

[lman]

Solar panels are quite tasty and nutritious if prepared properly. I also have some ocean front property for sale in Indiana.