New rules will ensure more agricultural land is dedicated to growing crops and food
Farmers will lose their right to claim subsidies for fields filled with solar panels under new plans to ensure more agricultural land is dedicated to growing crops and food. The move will help rural communities who do not want their countryside blighted by solar farms.
Britain has some of the best farmland in the world and ministers want to see it dedicated to agriculture to help boost our food and farming industry that is worth £97 billion to the economy.
The change, which will come into effect from January 2015, will mean that farmers who choose to use fields for solar panels will not be eligible for any farm subsidy payments available through the Common Agricultural Policy for that land.
Environment Secretary, Elizabeth Truss said:
English farmland is some of the best in the world and I want to see it dedicated to growing quality food and crops. I do not want to see its productive potential wasted and its appearance blighted by solar farms. Farming is what our farms are for and it is what keeps our landscape beautiful.
I am committed to food production in this country and it makes my heart sink to see row upon row of solar panels where once there was a field of wheat or grassland for livestock to graze.That is why I am scrapping farming subsidies for solar fields. Solar panels are best placed on the 250,000 hectares of south facing commercial rooftops where they will not compromise the success of our agricultural industry.
The subsidy change will also save up to £2 million of taxpayers’ money each year that won’t be available for these subsidies. The reform follows other government measures designed to end support for solar farms in agricultural fields. The Department for Energy and Climate Change recently announced that renewable energy subsidies for new large-scale solar farms will end next April. This year, the Department for Communities and Local Government amended planning rules to ensure that whenever possible solar installations are not put in fields that could be used for farming.
The changes the government is making are expected to slow down the growth of solar farms in the countryside in England. There are currently 250 installed, with the biggest covering as much as 100 hectares. Under previous plans, the number of fields dedicated to solar farms was set to increase rapidly, with over 1,000 ground-based solar farms expected by the end of the decade across the UK. These changes should help to halt this expansion as it will now become less financially attractive for farmers to install the solar panels.
The decision is part of a drive by environment ministers to ensure that the new Common Agricultural Policy delivers maximum benefits for the English food and farming industry, as well as providing greater benefits for rural communities, the environment and wildlife.
Find out more about how the new Common Agricultural Policy is being implemented in England.
(h/t to WUWT reader “brokenhockeystick”)
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Gareth Phillips
October 24, 2014 at 1:50 am
How about you Gareth, do you know the loss of food producing land in the UK ?
Hi Stephen, It depends on a number of issues such as the land quality. The price of land in the UK is rapidly rising due to the fact that it is only the UK and Ireland which allows non-citizens to own land. The owners can also pass on land without having to pay death duties. This results in a much greater competition from foreign investors increasing the value of UK land. When I worked for the National Institute of Agricultural Botany in Cambridge during the 80s land prices were relatively low. EU interventions and investment has since substantially increased the value of land and wealth of farmers. I do not know how much land is taken up by solar farms ( That is why I asked the question) but from such a figure correlated with land quality and non-use from investments we could make a rough guess as to how much food producing land is lost to solar farming. It may be that it is a lot less than loss to other forms of energy production.
And at what angle are all the solar farms we see. I have only observed panels at around 30 degrees from horizontal and not the more realistic 45 degrees. Can anyone tell us why?
What latitude are the solar panels at?
Power (PV arrays?) or hot water collectors?
If hot water collectors, hot water for a swimming pool in the summer, in the winter, or for daily house hot water all year or for household heating – but only in winter?
What is your cloud cover at the site? Mostly clear skies, or very frequent cloud cover?
Fixed array, right?
Single axle tracker rotating every hour?
Single axle tracker, but moving only each week or each month?
Double axle/motor continuous tracker on each panel??