The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will no longer provide federal funding for the installation of solar panels and wind turbines on farmland.
Solar and wind projects are no longer eligible for the Rural Development Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program. If project applications include ground mount solar photovoltaic systems larger than 50kW or ground mount solar photovoltaic systems that cannot document historical energy usage, the USDA will not consider the applications in its Rural Development Rural Energy for America Program Guaranteed Loan Program.
In a statement on X, Rollins faulted Biden-era sustainability projects as having a negative impact on agricultural real estate, stating that “millions of acres of prime farmland [were] left unusable so Green New Deal subsidized solar panels can be built. This destruction of our farms and prime soil is taking away the futures of the next generation of farmers and the future of our country.”
Rollins declared the USDA will cease funding “solar or wind projects on productive farmland, ending massive taxpayer handouts.” She also announced the department will no longer finance the use of solar panels “made by foreign adversaries like China.”
How will this affect the farmers who agreed to trading valuable crop producing farmland for ongoing annual payments from the windmill companies? Is there a fall-out?
If the owner of land makes a business decision to plant crops or build panels that is their decision. It sounds like the government instead of providing more opportunity is trying to force landowners/farmers to do what the government wants no matter the financial benefits to the landowner. It seems providing more options to the farmers would be better for everyone.