Thousands of acres of crop land getting turned into solar farms across the Midwest

[11boo]

All that eco friendly green energy fell far short in Europe once Putin cut off their nat gas.

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/27/1124448463/germany-coal-energy-crisis

 

[Rifleman86]

All that eco friendly green energy fell far short in Europe once Putin cut off their nat gas.

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/27/1124448463/germany-coal-energy-crisis

C’mon man, you know NPR is just right wing propaganda for Putin right?

 

[HuntHarder]

Thousands of acres being converted to solar farms here as well.
Not going away anytime soon, farmers are signing a 20 year leases, for more money than they make at farming. It's a shame.

The unseen cost of powering the ecofriendly battery operated automobiles.

Not really because of battery vehicles. It's more because of going "green" on power generation. Large utility I work for is being "Voluntold" to reduce emissions going forward. As we add megawatts of solar, we power down coal or ng power plants. Very complex issue that is above most people's pay grade. Agree or disagree, utilities are being mandated to use renewable energy sources.

I would say over 60-70% of new homes in most new subdivisions have rooftop solar. It causes all kinds of issues in under developed parts of the city. Mainly voltage regulation and the need for Ng power generation to immediately be able to pick up peak load when solar or wind isn't producing. We have HUGE solar farms here in AZ. Crazy thing to see.

 

[journeyman713]

I fear those solar farms are disturbing by more than meets the eye. There's no telling what they are nuking the soil with, to curb the undergrowth. The runoff is going somewhere, lakes and rivers, where people recreate, and fish. Most people in those rural areas have well water.

But hey, if you have an Electric Car - you're saving the planet.

 

[wnelson14]

Not sure if I’m off topic/out of line/ or going to get hate, but doesn’t the farm ground displace the same amount of land and animals as the solar farm? I’m not a solar farm fan or a mono crop farm fan either.

 

[wnelson14]

I fear those solar farms are disturbing by more than meets the eye. There's no telling what they are nuking the soil with, to curb the undergrowth. The runoff is going somewhere, lakes and rivers, where people recreate, and fish. Most people in those rural areas have well water.

But hey, if you have an Electric Car - you're saving the planet.

Pretty sure mono crop farms, roundup ready varieties, massive tilling and ground moving does the same

 

[journeyman713]

Not really because of battery vehicles. It's more because of going "green" on power generation. Large utility I work for is being "Voluntold" to reduce emissions going forward. As we add megawatts of solar, we power down coal or ng power plants. Very complex issue that is above most people's pay grade. Agree or disagree, utilities are being mandated to use renewable energy sources.

I would say over 60-70% of new homes in most new subdivisions have rooftop solar. It causes all kinds of issues in under developed parts of the city. Mainly voltage regulation and the need for Ng power generation to immediately be able to pick up peak load when solar or wind isn't producing. We have HUGE solar farms here in AZ. Crazy thing to see.

At least rooftop solar is getting more than one use from the land, without destroying it.

 

[Newtosavage]

The time to worry about all the wildlife that use what was once a vast unbroken native prairie was when John Deere created the tool to destroy them. From a native wildlife perspective, those midwestern farms are a biological desert. The true deserts of the SW that are being covered in solar farms are much more diverse and productive by comparison.

Just keepin' it real.

 

[journeyman713]

Pretty sure mono crop farms, roundup ready varieties, massive tilling and ground moving does the same

I'm pretty sure farmers do not apply a chemical that kills growth year round.

 

[11boo]

I fear those solar farms are disturbing by more than meets the eye. There's no telling what they are nuking the soil with, to curb the undergrowth. The runoff is going somewhere, lakes and rivers, where people recreate, and fish. Most people in those rural areas have well water.

But hey, if you have an Electric Car - you're saving the planet.

I should have taken a video of the 4 ATVs with sprayers running thru the rows of panels. It was definitely not fertilizer they were spraying.

 

[wnelson14]

I'm pretty sure farmers do not apply a chemical that kills growth year round.

Better do some research then, Every farm is different but crops are planted and sprayed once per year. Where I’m at in Cali heavy vegetable market farmers get around 2-3 crops per year, heavy spray programs even Organics have heavy spray programs

 

[HuntHarder]

At least rooftop solar is getting more than one use from the land, without destroying it.

Absolutely!

 

[FLATHEAD]

Why arent all the Booty munchers complaining about the habitat destruction of solar farms?
They always complaining about the environment.
But not a peep about this and those goofy a$$ looking wind mills.

 

[KenLee]

Yep.

My neighbor with 374 acres called me before listing for $1.7MM and wanted to know if I wanted to buy. He is a Dr who lives in another state and we have always had a good relationship in dealing with tresspassers, wildife, etc. Told him thanks for the heads up but I don't have $1.7MM nor can I finance it......so he sells it to a guy under a shell company LLC. Buyer calls me and asks if I want to sell, says he wants to build a family compound and be "close enough to smell each others grills, but not see each other" (I'll never forget that line). I tell him no, and tried talking to him about deer and hogs, etc...he didn't really seem to want to talk about it with me. We hung up and 2 weeks later there is an article in the local newspaper about a 4 million sq ft distribution center going there, and how it will bring jobs to the community (BS because they are all automated now). Come to find out all the county commissioners already knew about the whole thing and were cheering it on, and have already been issuing bonds to fund it. I went to zoning hearing and was a complete waste of time. So while $1.7MM may sound like alot of money, my neighbor got pennies on the dollar for what its worth after a simple zoning meeting.

I can guarantee you this is going on all across the country as well

They must teach the "family compound" lie in realtor and developer training.
I've heard it from many.

 

[Rifleman86]

The time to worry about all the wildlife that use what was once a vast unbroken native prairie was when John Deere created the tool to destroy them. From a native wildlife perspective, those midwestern farms are a biological desert. The true deserts of the SW that are being covered in solar farms are much more diverse and productive by comparison.

Just keepin' it real.

Quit being obtuse.

We’re never taking the Midwest back to the habitat it was prior to development/western expansion. That ship sailed. We all know it.

But crop land is very much still habitat for a large variety of critters. Solar fields aren’t, and never will be.

 

[wind gypsy]

I'm pretty sure farmers do not apply a chemical that kills GMO Corn or Bean growth year round.

Bold and italics words added to make this more accurate. Most conventional crops are grown with pre-emergent herbicides that kill everything but the targeted crops for months or longer and/or spray roundup/liberty/etc directly over GMO crops to kill everything but the crop.

I wouldn't want a big solar farm adjacent to my hunting ground in ag country but I'd put my money on the soil in a fenced off solar farm being healthier with way less harmful chemicals sprayed on it than most conventional ag ground.

Game absolutely benefits from ag crop nutrition part of the year but a black plowed field aint exactly what I'd consider "habitat". Biggest issue from a deer hunting/habitat perspective IMO is just restriction of where deer can travel by fences and likely less farmer tolerance for the deer population becoming more focused on the crops in adjacent locations.

 

[wind gypsy]

Why arent all the Booty munchers complaining about the habitat destruction of solar farms?
They always complaining about the environment.
But not a peep about this and those goofy a$$ looking wind mills.

Lots of them do but the more blinded by their tribe type are less likely to do so than say mining or oil extraction.

 

[wind gypsy]

Not sure if I’m off topic/out of line/ or going to get hate, but doesn’t the farm ground displace the same amount of land and animals as the solar farm? I’m not a solar farm fan or a mono crop farm fan either.

It displaces a ton in the midwest for sure just not basically all big game like in central CA ag country. Even the most wide open cover lacking farm country in the great plains has a lot more big game comparatively.

 

[MattB]

It displaces a ton in the midwest for sure just not basically all big game like in central CA ag country. Even the most wide open cover lacking farm country in the great plains has a lot more big game comparatively.

Yup, it isn't a one size fits all sort of a thing.

I have a buddy in IA that I deer hunt with every few years. We drive from the middle of the state to one of the corners to hunt, and he knows where deer (and big deer) tend to come from all along the way. He points out large sections of the area we drive through that hold very few deer because all the timber has been cleared. Seasonally food is really abundant, but when the corn is cut there is just no place for a deer to go for miles in every direction.

CA's central valley is a great example. I don't think most folks have a sense of its size. There are not very many mammals larger than a coyote that live in an area that is ~475 miles long and 40-60 miles wide. That is close to the size of the state of West Virginia.

 

[Dos Perros]

Not sure if I’m off topic/out of line/ or going to get hate, but doesn’t the farm ground displace the same amount of land and animals as the solar farm? I’m not a solar farm fan or a mono crop farm fan either.

Believe it or not farms can enhance wildlife density. There is a ton more feed and feed available throughout the year.

You should read about prairie chicken densities when the prairies were first getting broken up for row crops.