Solar or food production? Somerset farmers locked into debate

Should rural land be used to provide meals or vitality? It is a query that divides farmers nationwide, and is being debated on the Somerset Levels.

On historical grazing pastures metal and silicon photo voltaic panels are being put in, taking hundreds of acres of farmland out of meals manufacturing.

Across the nation, the brand new Energy Security Secretary, Ed Miliband, has already authorised three large controversial developments, protecting 6,200 acres (2,500 hectares) of farmland.

And whereas some farmers see photo voltaic as providing monetary stability, others worry the lack of the land that feeds us.

Mr Miliband needs to quadruple UK solar energy, which he says will “make the UK a clear vitality superpower.”

Some farmers are glad to hire their fields to the rising inexperienced vitality business.

Others are becoming a member of forces with campaigners preventing to maintain farms for meals.

“We’re shedding a lot of our farmland,” mentioned Hugh Williams, of Somerset Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE).

“Once it has gone, the harm is finished.”

So why do farmers conform to put their fields below silicon panels? And will it imply Britain has to import extra meals?

Every week, Sam Small and her household flip down hundreds of kilos of assured earnings. They farm 400 acres on the Somerset Levels, 5 miles west of Glastonbury.

When I visited her by the stainless cow sheds, the solar was out – and she or he may earn a wholesome earnings from that solar energy.

Mrs Small confirmed me a stack of adverts and emails the household have obtained.

“We get loads of emails saying, ‘Make a thousand kilos an acre out of your land!’ They’re all over the place now.”

If they rented out only a tenth of their land to a photo voltaic vitality agency, they might earn £40,000 a 12 months.

For 30 years.

For doing nothing.

But Mrs Small simply laughs on the thought.

“Very tempting,” she smiles, “however 10% of our land may also feed these cows. You have to take a look at the larger image.

“We produce practically two million litres of milk a 12 months, and that’s what we intend to hold on doing.”

As properly as refusing to place her land below photo voltaic panels, Mrs Small has joined an area marketing campaign group preventing a close-by improvement.

Elgin Energy utilized to construct a 146-acre (60 hectare) photo voltaic park at Nythe Rd, close to Pedwell, producing sufficient vitality to energy 17,000 properties.

There is already a smaller photo voltaic set up on the identical farm, protecting round 40 acres.

Hundreds of native residents additionally objected, many citing the lack of productive farmland.

“This was a thriving dairy farm”, mentioned Lorna Hattingh.

“To destroy farmland that’s getting used for meals simply appears a extremely unfavorable manner of doing it.”

Mr Williams, from CPRE Somerset, joined the group for a similar motive.

“We solely produce 60% of our meals on this nation,” he mentioned.

“No-one talks in regards to the carbon footprint of the 40% we import. We’ve had meals costs by means of the roof, we don’t appear to have discovered the teachings of counting on meals imports.

“And we preserve taking farmland away. Why?”

The marketing campaign was profitable. In May Somerset Council rejected the photo voltaic park proposal, citing a “failure to discover decrease high quality agricultural land” amongst its causes.

But campaigners anticipate the builders to attraction.

At Washford, on the Somerset Coast, the identical firm had a 132-acre undertaking rejected by Somerset Council, however then gained an attraction and can quickly begin constructing.

There are dozens of comparable schemes within the West Country.

• Near Milverton, on the sting of the Quantock hills, one other 76 acres of farmland has been authorised for a photo voltaic farm, this time powering as much as 7,000 properties.
• On the Somerset/Wiltshire border, a greater photo voltaic park protecting 184 acres of farmland has been proposed.
• In North Wiltshire, 8,000 folks objected to a plan for two,000 acres of photo voltaic panels known as Lime Down.

Across the UK, it is the identical story. Dozens of medium-sized photo voltaic parks protecting lots of of acres are popping up.

But there are plans for a lot a lot greater schemes, just like the three contentious plans just lately authorised by the brand new authorities, totalling greater than 6,000 acres.

On the Cambridgeshire/ Suffolk border Sunnica Energy received the inexperienced gentle in July for a 2,500-acre photo voltaic park.

Campaigners argue that huge swathes of British farmland is being turned over for solar energy use, by no means to be farmed once more.

But are they proper?

“We really need a tiny quantity of land,” mentioned Chris Hewett, Chair of Solar Energy UK.

He speaks for the photo voltaic vitality business, and welcomes the brand new authorities’s enthusiasm for photovoltaic (PV) energy.

“We want lower than half a % of UK land, for a totally decarbonised vitality grid.

“That is the quantity of land we use for golf programs – and fewer than we use for airports.”

Plenty of individuals suppose fields of photo voltaic panels may truly be the monetary saviour of British farming.

One farmer has discovered that first hand, over 12 years.

On the opposite aspect of Somerset, Patrick Twigger was making an attempt to get the harvest in once I arrived.

“It’s nonetheless a bit damp”, he smiled ruefully, “however we have got to get this wheat in earlier than it rains once more.”

The mix and tractor workforce labored arduous, one eye on the darkening clouds.

“Too moist, too dry, too scorching, too chilly – we’re at all times battling in opposition to the climate!” Mr Twigger mentioned.

Like so many farmers, he has had a very tough 12 months of climate. The wheat he grows to feed his pigs shall be smaller, and damper, than he would really like.

Other crops failed, and there was loads of flooding on his farm close to Frome.

But some fields earn him cash yearly, come rain or shine.

Twelve years in the past he rented out 40 acres to an area photo voltaic vitality agency.

The panels in his fields make sufficient electrical energy to energy about 3,000 properties.

“It’s change into a extra necessary earnings than it was 10 years in the past,” added Mr Twigger.

“With the rising value of gasoline, electrical energy, wages, insurance coverage, the photo voltaic has change into a vital a part of the farm.”

Mr Twigger can not reveal how a lot the photo voltaic vitality agency pays for his land.

But affords between £800 – £1,000 per acre are frequent.

How does that evaluate with every other crop?

Louis Smith is an skilled rural accountant on the advisory agency Old Mill.

I requested him to match photo voltaic with wheat, probably the most worthwhile crop farmers develop within the South West.

He defined: “In an outstanding 12 months you may hope for 4 tonnes of wheat per acre, which might offer you a gross income of £600-£800 an acre, relying on the value. So after prices, you may make £200 an acre revenue.”

Solar schemes are, he calculates, 4 or 5 instances extra worthwhile.

The authorities needs to quadruple the quantity of photo voltaic vitality made in Britain, from 15 gigawatts now to over 70 GW by 2035.

Plenty of farmers shall be supplied a photo voltaic sweetener. Few would need to put all their fields below panels, and there are tax penalties of doing so.

But part of the farm? Mr Smith is kind of clear.

“If you may get monetary stability in what you are promoting, absolutely that’s what all people is after?”