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

[cuerro viejo]

Bold statement. Not one you can prove, but bold nonetheless.

What's funny to me is those here who act like they are concerned about wildlife habitat but then turn around and criticize those who are concerned about actual wildlife habitat. LOL

use to be ranch……with cover, quail, turkeys, Deer, badgers, porcupines, etc….. now nothing… thats water washing away soil….there is no grass or trees to prevent it anymore.

Very eco friendly ideology to bulldozer to dirt an entire eco systems so that it has nothing to prevent erosion by water or wind or support wild life.

Not my land so it is what it is, but to use eco friendly is a straight joke.

 

[Loo.wii]

So I fly for the NG part time. I’ve noticed in the last year or so solar farms are all of the sudden popping up everywhere, seemingly overnight.

Below are a few pictures I snapped the other night. This thing was massive, and more was being added. It was absolutely disgusting to see. View attachment 521194View attachment 521195View attachment 521196
Hundreds if not thousands of acres of habitat and hunting opportunity destroyed. Meanwhile there is a massive and sprawling warehouse district next to the airport. I haven’t seen a single solar panel on a roof.

Where the **** are our conservation organizations on this!? I’m not sure how anyone can witness this and defend it as better for the environment. It’s simply maddening, and it feels like there isn’t a damn thing I or anyone can do about it.

you know what would make sense ? putting solar panels over parking lots and on roofs.

 

[Rifleman86]

Its the new strip mine….

Its a farce to think renewables are the whole solution…folks need to do the math.

I saw a calculation of the batteries it would take to store 6 hours of US power consumption. It would take a thousand years of 24hr production from the largest battery factory in the world…and billions of tons of mining for the minerals needed.

We were arrogant to think hydro was the solution to the energy problem that had minimal environmental impact.

We’re just as arrogant, if not far more so, to believe solar/wind/green electric will be any different. At least with hydro we just didn’t have a clue that we would be destroying things like salmon migrations. This go around many folks are screaming from the rooftops that we are making a mistake, but they are being ignored because of greed and arrogance.

You even see some of that arrogance displayed in this thread.

 

[wnelson14]

I think a mix of solar/farm ground/ oil is all needed and beneficial obviously, but a quick google search there is roughly 14million acres of solar (unsure if this includes rooftop units or not), 800million acres of farm ground in the US. That’s 1.75% of “farm ground” turned into solar.
The amount of food waste, unnecessary use of corn syrup, and soy oil based foods in the American diet, a lot of ground could easily be turned back into conservation for habitats, more solar panels, and less food produced and we would all be in a better place.

 

[Rifleman86]

you know what would make sense ? putting solar panels over parking lots and on roofs.

Seems reasonable. But it’s “cheaper” to just bulldoze farmland I bet. As we’ve already discussed, producing energy with minimal habitat impacts is usually more expensive. (But worth it.)

I think a mix of solar/farm ground/ oil is all needed and beneficial obviously, but a quick google search there is roughly 14million acres of solar (unsure if this includes rooftop units or not), 800million acres of farm ground in the US. That’s 1.75% of “farm ground” turned into solar.
The amount of food waste, unnecessary use of corn syrup, and soy oil based foods in the American diet, a lot of ground could easily be turned back into conservation for habitats, more solar panels, and less food produced and we would all be in a better place.

If you guaranteed me that it would stay at 14 million acres and that was it, I probably wouldn’t have much of a problem with it.

The issue is that these things are being built like crazy, with no signs of slowing down. Further it’s all being propped up and driven by government money that we really don’t have.

 

[Loo.wii]

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

regardless of politics the rich man gets his way

 

[roosiebull]

Now if you really want to see an eye sore, you need to drive by one of the many windmill farms here in Ca. They are always just off the freeways. One is off interstate 10 just before Palm Springs. I told my friends, if an alien spacecraft was to spot them, they would say, no need to stop here, no signs of intelligent life. But, once again, it is in the desert.

Columbia gorge in Oregon is the same, both sides of the river (so both Oregon and Washington)

The big green energy push is going to cause a lot more hardship than benefit, pretty crazy. The ocean is next

 

[Sapcut]

Perhaps the benefit there is less corn to make high fructose corn syrup. And less soybean oil. Then less will be added to every sku in groceries stores that FDA approves… which are killing all of us daily, should we partake.

Don’t forget, crop farming isn’t about feeding the world. It is about selling commodities.

 

[Dos Perros]

Perhaps the benefit there is less corn to make high fructose corn syrup. And less soybean oil. Then less will be added to every sku in groceries stores that FDA approves… which are killing all of us daily, should we partake.

Don’t forget, crop farming isn’t about feeding the world. It is about selling commodities.

We'll import any corn or bean products that we can't produce ourselves.

 

[Newtosavage]

View attachment 521405


use to be ranch……with cover, quail, turkeys, Deer, badgers, porcupines, etc….. now nothing… thats water washing away soil….there is no grass or trees to prevent it anymore.

Very eco friendly ideology to bulldozer to dirt an entire eco systems so that it has nothing to prevent erosion by water or wind or support wild life.

Not my land so it is what it is, but to use eco friendly is a straight joke.

Why aren't you mad at the rancher?

 

[Newtosavage]

That’s about the most smug, arrogant, and self centered thing I’ve read in a long time.

I’m watching hundreds of acres of fields get bulldozed that were full of whitetails and turkeys every spring and fall, to be replaced with solar panels, and you have the gall to spin around and tell me, “It’s for your own good… Oh and I forgot to mention, I’m the one who actually cares about wildlife.”

You're pretty good at putting words in people's mouths I see.

You posted a whiney post about solar farms overtaking "wildlife habitat" and I offered some perspective. Don't take it personally.

 

[Rifleman86]

You're pretty good at putting words in people's mouths I see.

You posted a whiney post about solar farms overtaking "wildlife habitat" and I offered some perspective. Don't take it personally.

You knew exactly what you were insinuating.

Spreading awareness isn’t “whining” btw. If I didn’t buzz around at 1000ft AGL for a living I’d have no idea how many of these things existed, how quickly they were being built, and just how much habitat they were destroying.

Instead of parroting talking points from the latest pint night, go take a look at one in person. Go spend a little time and watch how much wildlife is using the “solar farm” vs the farm next door.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Why aren't you mad at the rancher?

why arent you mad at the rancher? you are one slighting it.

Im simply stating its not ecologically friendly and its not solely happening on barren crop or deserts, counter to perception

its private property, he can choose how to feed his family. He earned that right when he bought the land.

with that said there should be no federal subsidies supporting this amount of deforestation. Infact this policy is counter to every farm, soil and habitat program to date

 

[Newtosavage]

why arent you mad at the rancher? you are one slighting it.

Im simply stating its not ecologically friendly and its not solely happening on barren crop or deserts, counter to perception

its private property, he can choose how to feed his family. He earned that right when he bought the land.

with that said there should be no federal subsidies supporting this amount of deforestation. Infact this policy is counter to every farm, soil and habitat program to date

and yet there are federal tax breaks for oil companies who have polluted more acres of wildlife habitat than solar farms, by a vast margin. But we're not allowed to hold the fossil fuel industry responsible for that. Not here anyway.

You see, if it was really about the habitat, there are bigger fish to fry than solar.

 

[Newtosavage]

You knew exactly what you were insinuating.

Spreading awareness isn’t “whining” btw. If I didn’t buzz around at 1000ft AGL for a living I’d have no idea how many of these things existed, how quickly they were being built, and just how much habitat they were destroying.

Instead of parroting talking points from the latest pint night, go take a look at one in person. Go spend a little time and watch how much wildlife is using the “solar farm” vs the farm next door.

How do you know I don't have a solar farm next door? They are quite abundant in Texas.

Nah man, you're angry at something besides the solar farm. Because as I said above, if it was about habitat, there are much bigger fish to fry than solar farms.

 

[zrodwyo]

they are de-foresting 10’s of thousands of acres in Texas. They dont care if it has tree or not. More about transmission line ability and energy costs to area.

Friend signed a 10k acre solar farm. His whole ranch was treed. Not anymore…… but he is buying a new ranch with his 4.75 million a year

You should blame the landowners

 

[Fullfan]

Neighbor just signed a 40 year lease for solar, 3500.00 and acer. can't say I blame him.

 

[zrodwyo]

There is a joke in the solar industry that if we could just get all the government money that oil and gas gets we would be on easy street.

At the end of the day the human population is exploding and you need to power all those tract homes.

 

[Blowdowner]

The surveillance control grid/lockdown tech needs lots of electricity. It will be used to reduce the population of rural America. The land is therefore not needed to grow food.

 

[Rifleman86]

How do you know I don't have a solar farm next door? They are quite abundant in Texas.

Nah man, you're angry at something besides the solar farm. Because as I said above, if it was about habitat, there are much bigger fish to fry than solar farms.

There are more fish to fry than we can deal with, we shouldn’t be subsidizing more of them, and we certainly shouldn’t be doing it in the name of the environment.