Our farm borders a rural airport, and 20 years ago they condemned and took 33/ac from us, and paid $600/ac. The county told my granddad that he was holding up progress in our county by denying them the ability to extend the runway further across our land. A longer runway would bring companies with jets and jobs they said. 20 years ago we had a single corporate plane and 4 ag spray planes. Now we have a beautiful long runway with lights, zero ag spray planes, and zero corporate planes, and zero new companies, but many that left. The airplane hangers are rented out by another farmer and they store tractors in them. My dad took the county to court and they did end up having to pay $9k per acre, but the attorney got half. In the last 20 years we would’ve made far more money off the 33 acres of ag land than the $4500/ac received.
@@JamesCrouchX brooks county, GA After they condemned the land, they didn’t have the money to do the expansion, and they rented our land out to another farmer for a few years. You can see this on historical satellite imagery. Also before they condemned it, they tried to have it classified as protected wetlands to force us out.
@@reidhaberer7541 $4500 over 20 years would only be $225/ac. I’m clearing far above that. Not accounting for inflation 20 years ago…. But still, would’ve made more money by now and for the years to come.
I made a presentation on the loss of farmland when I was in school. I tried to point out that at the current rate we might see houses torn down to create corn fields in our lifetime. It’s very frustrating to see all these vacant lots sit empty while more and more farm land gets consumed to build developments
Ajdruck Amen!! This type of development can't continue! We really need to get our local governments and the Feds involved in offering incentives to re develop already "disturbed" land. Between the large, aggressive, corporate (foreign and domestic) acquisitions and the selling off of land by smaller farmers that can't "pass it on" for whatever reason, we're looking at serious trouble ahead! I won't live to see it, but my grandchildren will.
I agree completely, but I assume that the majority of those being sold off are the result of someone inheriting the farm, but they have no ambition or knowledge to keep it going, so they sell it for a quick payout
My family had 200 acres my great grandparents had farmed. My grandparents had careers and no interest in farming, and had pulp wood planted the last 40 years. All my life I’ve begged them to leave it to me or at least lease it to me so I could farm it again, but last year they received an offer from a developer for 12,000 an acre cash. They accepted on the spot. I couldn’t compete with that, being mid 30s with a family. It just killed me they (being already very well off) couldn’t turn down that easy money so that the land could stay in our family. 220 years, and now gone. They told me they had to earn their way, I’ll have to earn mine…. Apparently forgetting they’d inherited the land they just sold. People complain young people ‘don’t want to farm’. It’s mostly the older generations don’t want to let us.
The problem with the vacant lots isn't that there is something on them, but that the ownership has been split up into many hands. If you want to redevelop a large area, there are a lot of owners any one of which can essentially veto the project.
I remember Brian brown saying that he had neighbors who were promised money like that for solar on thier land... company filed for bankruptcy after panels were installed, changed names and got out of the contract because different name. Ruined the land. Stripped top soil off and sold it then left solar panel waste materials that they didn't bother cleaning up which is pretty much not biodegradable at all
They do the same thing here. Come in strip and sell the top soil, get the government money to install the panels. Then they file for bankruptcy and vanish.
Well I don’t know what kind of a contract that farmer signed but he must not have read it or he was plain stupid. Around South Dakota they are trying to start solar. But they sure as hell aren’t stripping any ground especially hauling off top soil. The contracts state the company must maintain the land and must clean the land to its natural state after the contract expires. Whoever Brian is talking about is clearly so dumb he deserves to lose everything. The solar companies cannot destroy the land.
I've heard claims that the same thing happened with the wind farms in OK, but have never been able to verify them. The basic claim is that the builders/power companies didn't pay the workers, resulting in a lien on the land. The claim also portrays the land as unfarmable, but it is clearly being farmed when you drive past the wind farms.
@GilbyLandscaping how do you sue a company that doesn't exist if they filed for bankruptcy?? Like if they didn't clean up after install like supposed to. Maybe when "new company " took over they specifically stated not responsible for previous contract requirements. Them lawyers are awfully good at wording things in a round about confusing way when they want to
I have 121 acres leased out for corn and soybeans to a long-term tenant farmer. I'm being offered $600 per acre to option for a future solar installation from a French co. My problem is the contract paperwork is long and complicated (more than 80 pages) and 2 lawyers have declined to review it. I'm probably going turn it down based on the complexity of the contract.
As a young farmer who just lost his farm to the corporations, the solar easement your experiening is a real kick in the pants. I will find more land one day and attempt again. For me it was a take the money or you get nothing. One day there will be no farm land and people will relize how much they needed us. It's amazing how many time I have herd "we don't need farmers, all my food comes from the stoor."
Where I am in the UK they are building housing estates on farmland at a horrifying rate. Every time they complete an estate they magically acquire the adjoining fields and start again! What infuriates me about this is there's loads of Ex industrial land sitting rotting away, some of it has been like that long before I was born 36 years ago, with the old foundations of industrial buildings growing trees and weeds but the housing developers won't touch the land as it would require them to clean the site up first and the current owners don't want to sell it for reasonable money when someone shows an interest.
Currently fighting solar right next to our farm in Ohio, you can't just magically make more farmland. Not against sloar energy I'd love to see them on roofs and in dry arid areas just don't destroy good usable farm ground.
It doesn’t work that way. You can’t just put them on roofs. The solar project has to be where there is a major power line to supply the power plant and go on the grid
I'm a huge fan of solar. I also 100% agree that the panels belong on roof and over parking lots! We have plenty of roofs and parking lots. plenty of large machine sheds out there. Strengthen them and add solar. We need farm ground!
Screw your solar, you people think your doing such a great thing for the environment. When in all reality the resources used to manufacture them is worse. If these things were actually viable they wouldn't be subsidized from the tax payers. This is nothing but a way for politicians to line their pockets with taxpayers money. All while using the go green BS and so many drink the kool aid it's unbelievable. Wake up tards follow the money you may be surprised. Solyndra ring a bell to you all.
We were approached several years ago offering $2500 an acre for 25 years. The 25 acre piece was a quarter of a mile from a substation. We said no thanks as we had just pattern tiled it. Went past the solar field on a trip to lowa over the weekend, didn’t realize that your farm was that close to it.
This highest paying patch of farmland on our family farm (shared with my five brothers and sister) is about 1/2 acre on the corner of a field which is leased to a communications company for a cell phone tower. I beleive the current payment is about $1,900/month.
I saw the contruction of a solar farm last year when i drove past it every few weeks. They used large tractors and scrapers, did drainage work, made retention ponds, and roads. I dont see that becoming farm land ever again and it covers a couple hundred acres i would guess
I don't have an opinion on solar panels yet, but windmills come as advertised. I am from central, IL and our windmills are loud on windy days, leak oil and catch on fire(rarely), and the shadows that come from the windmill blades are no joke. 8/10 do not recommend.
Ryan, Your drone shots and music choices are the best of any farming channel I follow. Superb work in shooting and editing the shots. I know this must take hours but it was worth it for this video for sure!
We need a way to save our farmland from over developing this country needs the American Farmer more than solar panels. At least the American Farmers use the ground for what God intended for. The American Farmer is the biggest environmentalist. Not big cooperations. We need our farms and farm ground. God Bless!!
I know people watching at 4:20 are going to see all that dust and say "there goes all your topsoil" but that's mostly surface residue. It's not soil blowing away; it's busted-up plant matter and surface crust clay.
There's plenty of non productive land that can be used for that stuff. We need to protect the farmland we have left. The solar farms are quite the annoyance and some of these solar companies are here today, gone tomorrow leaving the land owners with a huge mess to clean up and an empty wallet. Good luck holding them responsible even with a clause in the contract. 2600 an acre😂😅
It's crazy how expensive land is getting. I have always wondered if it was east to start a farm back in the day compared to now, because nowadays starting a farm from scratch is a hard thing to do.
Not really, if you do not insist on a conventional row crop farm. Starting a small organic vegetable farm and then gradually expanding it is not expensive, but requires a lot of physical work.
@@islami658 Yes, if you buy all the things you mentioned, which points to a row crop farm. A small vegetable operation can be started with much less. I know it, because my wife and I have done it. Besides, I work the land with draft horses which I with very small input costs.
There are 2 different companies that what to build carbon capture pipelines in NW Iowa and they are surveying on private property without permission and are trying to acquire easements with Eminent Domain. Big corporations just won’t take NO for an answer!
Perhaps someone mentioned it, I don't feel like going thru all the comments. But it is called eminent domain not an easement to forcibly take property for "the greater good of the public". You would though grant an easement if you agree to work with them.
It's nice to see that field work has started👍😁 The solar project in your area is just horrible. Farmland should always be farmland and not turned into solar facilities!
Hey Ryan, Rocket is such a sweet dog I’m glad he still gets to ride in the tractor!!! Best wishes for the 2023 growing season!! Oh yeah the 4640 is such a good looking tractor, love the 40,50 and 55 series tractors ! Stay safe!!!!😎👍
Another thing that gets me about wind power is that on the Altamonte in CA/Coastal range there are Hundreds of turbine's! But at ANY given time of the day, you will find OVER 30% of the propellers are NOT turning! If it's impossible to have a 90%+ production, then what's the rhuhaha of going green?
On my father in-law's farm in Salem, Ohio, they were offering $4000.00/acre on his wooded land in 1985. They were going to build houses after the land was cleared. He did not sell.
Hey Ryan!! Hey Rocket!! Congrats on 300K!!! Gotta love that eminent domain. Corporations think they can come in and force you to sell or lease. I pray that they don't get it done . Can't wait to see the 79 and the planter working in the fields!
A couple of points in the food vs. fuel debate. Remember, fuel is only a short distance behind food in the needs of society so we need to produce plenty of it. First, eminent domain can't be used for a solar farm. To connect it to the grid, possibly but that is either poles or an underground cable rather than seizure of large tracts of land. I know loss of farmland is a concern but it needn't be. US electricity use = approx. 3900TWh/year. It makes little sense to produce >25% of electricity by solar so we need to produce 975TWh. Rooftop will likely produce 25% of the total so need approx. 730TWh = 730,000,000MWh. 1 acre will produce approx. 450MWh/year therefore approx. 1,622,000 acres will be needed in total. The US has approx. 890m acres of farmland so approx. 0.2% of US farmland would be required to produce 18.75% of US electricity requirement. If the 175 acres/hour stat is correct, this particular "gold rush" will last for 5 years and no more land will be required. Something else to be considered is that not all solar farms are sited on cropping land and, especially in the southwest, are sited on land fit for little else but solar. If all of US electricity was required to be produced by solar, just under 10% of US farmland would be required but even the solar industry doesn't push that scenario.
Congratulations on 300 k subscribers. You have a good thing going on. That sure was a lot of tractor for a light weight tool. I always like it when sir Rocket rides along. May God Bless the American farmers
4640 Low RPM, high gears. Save that fuel. Could use a larger harrow implement but a soil finisher would take the place of 2 implements in one pass behind one tractor.
We had a wind project come through putting pamphlets in everyone’s mailboxes, wanting to put a lot of wind towers in. Obviously not wanting it to get out into the community since they were paying someone to put them in mailboxes rather than mail them. Even told a neighbor they weren’t the company that would be installing, they were just buying easements and selling those to the actual company. Every one of our neighbors within about 15 miles told them to kick rocks. There was a wind project 20 miles west of us that they screwed every person they could. Anyone that requested a tower not be by their house had one pretty much in their backyard, and they even broke laws and got a lawsuit out of it due to towers being placed too close to land borders. Needless to say I don’t see any wind towers in this county ever again, as long as they can’t claim eminent domain.
That’s the same thing they did in our area. Lied to the land owners about all the money they were going to get. Came in started bulldozing everything in their path, made a mess of the land and left a mess behind, garbage trees, wood splinters all over from rig mats, wooden stakes scattered, and the list goes on. The turbines were supposed to not be very large and then they put in the biggest ones they could buy!! They are a eyesore, noisy and killing all the birds. Sparrows, eagles, owls, ducks, geese, hawks the list is endless. The land agents lied to land owners about everything they could before and after they were installed. It’s sad for us that don’t want them that have to look at them now. Disgusting Also when the wind turbines are decommissioned it’s up to the land owners to pay for demolition!! And these so called farmers still signed up!!
@@hcsgmail That’s the same thing that is happening here in our area. I was just thinking about that the other day. They cause a lot of wind turbulence.
Wow you really work that soil into a fine powder, better hope it rains or get your pivots ready, absolutely no soil aggregate. Have you considered less conventional tillage practices? I dunno , i just always figured its a waste of diesel tilling that much aggregate out of soil and turning it in to literalky dry dead dirt. I get it, im a farmer, own a disk, but why over till soybean stubble that powder?
Ryan I hope that everything is going smoothly for you because this country needs the American Farmers like you and so many more farmers. There has to be a way to save American Farm ground and not let people just do what they want just because they want to put up solar energy. I think that what it all comes down to is Greed money hungry individuals who don't have a clue about how important Agriculture is to this country!! God Bless the American Farmers and you and your family. God Bless you Ryan and keep up the fight for Agriculture!!
We're facing the prospect of a 150 mw wind development here in north central WI. We're doing what we can at the township level to educate people, and make it harder for developers to site turbines near residences, but sometimes it feels like an uphill battle for sure. We've heard muchbof the same things, promise the world when it comes to taking care of the land, but past projects show otherwise. It just doesnt seem like there's much recourse when these developers breach lease agreements.
I posted a long comment a few days ago about our experience with wind and solar here in Australia but some coward blocked me.Our farmland is being destroyed.
I may have made that harrower. I worked for a little two man shop, we put together those, hay rakes and tethers. If you find a hay rake and all the grease serts are facing the same direction I did that. Didnt have to but being a farmer once it sure makes it convenient.
If you look at your new meters and delivery tubes you'll see they say kinze on them. Kinze developed the seed delivery system and ag leader developed the down force. Together they call it SureSpeed or TrueSpeed. Also if you're looking to upgrade that harrow, I'd recommend a Phillips or Kelly Mfg rotary harrow
The solar company has already taken enough land around you tell them to go pound sand up there a-- the solar panels are out of control. They can go get land that is not useful for ag. Great videos
Its saddening, seeing every single farm/field, big or small, anywhere near a larger town or city, get bought out by a housing/commercial developer separated, leveled off, and bunch of identical cheap built houses slapped on it. I am a heavy equipment operator for a family friends excavation company, and we've been doing the dirtwork for alot of said stupid developments. Its ridiculous how they can lure landowners into selling out or even kick you off land with eminent domain. If i was in yours or many farmer's shoes in that position i would put up one hell of a fight.
I agree with you about solar on farms. Unfortunately, the siren song of easy money is hard to resist. Seeing Rocket as your co-pilot is always good, he acts like a wise older dog.
There is a large solar complex being installed about 25 minutes southwest of me near a small town called Lomira in Wisconsin. Pretty much everybody in the area hates it except for the farmers who sold the land at a very high price. It was beautiful farm land that is being ruined by those ugly solar panels. I would rather have a nuclear power plant near me than one of those things, the windmills near me are bad enough.
I’m just east of Ripon. Been past that farm. It’s gut wrenching what they are doing to that land. I don’t know if I could ever do that to my farm. Four generations of relatives would turn in their graves.
Here in Michigan there is a big fight over several sights for the Chinese to come in and build battery factories for EVs. All open farmland taken for these projects instead of redeveloping the Detroit wasteland. These projects will end up as failures and the Michigan taxpayers will be on the hook once again. One of the mission statements of the World Economic Forum is to reduce world population down to 550 million people. The most efficient way to do this is famine. Next on the docket for the climate change agenda will be fertilizer use. I expect a huge onslaught of regulations or an out right ban.
The worst farm land here in South Dakota will bring more than 8500 a acre. If you r lucky enough to buy 40 or more acres by a highway you can sell 5 acres for 165000 for a housing eligibility. U just ended up with 35 cheap acres of farmland. I don't like it but I guess things happen that way.
its the same in gemany...we lose about 125ac per day on farmland. luckily the interest rates are going up so there are a lot less development projects going on...
Im going to give you a tip from a previous oilfield worker. Tell them if they want the land for there right of way its going to coast them $26,000 an acer than they need to times that by 10 than you'll consider of signing.
Good afternoon. In my area of Michigan, Windmill companies are paying crazy money. But you have to know and acknowledge after 20,25 or so yrs your contract is up, the mills stay you can't impede the right of way and you can't contract anyone to remove said mill/s. But you're making 6 figure's arguably. I politely walked out of the meeting at the courthouse. If they pay to install, they can pay to remove. Most grandparents and parents are contracted out as all they see is money. Ive got to ask several elder farmers and its a repeated statement, we're not worried about the kids, its our land right now and we are collecting the money as long as we can. Just wow.
DJI pretty much just replaces the drone. Flat rate repair everyone pays same whether it is a blade or drone meat puzzle. I deal with several companies that do same deal on repairs. I can send a unit for bad switch or burnt board, flat rate service is 350 per unit in that model group.
I turned down 22 hundred an acre for 20 years on 50 acres with an option for 20 more years. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I could use the money but its a muti generation farm.
Awsome video ryan development on farm land does effect the community and stores around us is ok for some areas but not alot of farmers are willing to give up some of their land I wish people weren't like that thumbs up and shared
Hey Ryan here in Indiana About 10 years ago we had a interstate quality highway built around our city and I know 5Farmer's lost land To the Project And not a lot of people use the new highway because they're afraid of it It was pretty much Immediate domain Government can get the land They said no development around the highway But people are still developing Along the highway. A retired English teacher I know Spend a lifetime land For her retirement with her husband And the high way Ride away Is literally 6' from the back wall of her pole barn.
Hey Ryan, Yea I will try to plant some sweet corn and okra maybe some pea's. Just now getting up to the 50's Saturday and I hope no more 30's and 40's at night. Tell Dad, Travis South Carolina Larry said Hello. Take Care, Take it Easy and TRUST JESUS !!!!!!!!!!!!
How is solar land taxed after it is running? Is the landowner liable for injuries or deaths on the solar land. What if developer walks away during construction or shortly after it’s running?
It all depends how the contract is written. A good attorney and accountant is necessary throughout the process to protect yourself as much as possible.
This may be unpopular, but of course, if you'd rather be a heavy machine operator than a farmer scratching in the dirt, then you will be a price taker with the commodity crops. Whereas if you enjoy growing vegetables on a small scale and organically, you can be a price maker and enjoy returns per acre that by far far exceed any row crop.
I did a thought experiment a few years ago. If you project world peak electricity demand 20 years into the future, you could cover all of Kansas in solar panels, and it would generate 3 times that projected whole-world demand.
Im always in favor of solar, but the whole "rent a lot" thing seems... odd. As was mentioned in another comment, I'm surprised they didn't just offer to buy the land. It feels off. Regardless, if you havent already, Id recommend you have a lawyer take a look at even their preliminary proposal. Lawyers are very good about spying loopholes. And if you can (and decide to go with it), work in a clause that dictates what a successful decomission looks like so they cant leave it a mess at the end. (same yield as the surrounding fields or something)
Australian here. I have the misfortune of living in a Renewable Energy Zone. This declaration was made in recent years. I live in the Central West Tablelands of the state of New South Wales. The region that I live in is predominantly vineyards, cropping and grazing. The region originated from the goldrush era and the towns are steeped in history including hundreds of buildings considered to be of historic significance. There is a coal mine approximately 20 kilometres from our town which provides good employment for many of the local towns and keeps unemployment numbers low for the region. Given the history, scenery and wineries the area is popular with tourists which is a substantial earner for the region. The country in this region is quite stunning with rolling rural vistas and distant mountains. Our government in it's wisdom has nominated an ever growing number of these Renewable Energy Zones throughout the eastern states of Australia. All of these zones fall within agricultural land of which Australia has a total of only 6%. Australia's total land mass is 7.688 million square kilometres which is similar to that of America excluding Alaska. We were drawn to this region by the fact that the area is teeming with native birds and wildlife. We built our new house four years ago from the proceeds of the sale of the family home in the city. The home was designed to take advantage of the most beautiful Australian countryside you could imagine, at least to us it is. There is an existing 87MW thin film cadmium/tellurium industrial solar project four kilometres from our home. It was commissioned in 2019 and was the third largest installation in Australia at the time. We thought we had done our bit, that it was done and dusted. Turns out they hadn't even started. A second solar project was approved last year. That one will be 400MW with a 200MW BESS backup and will be situated on 1,700 hectares (17 square kilometres) of agricultural land. They are up to 32 projects planned so far for the region at just over halfway through the planning stages. One of these wind/solar projects will be situated in our valley and will consist of 1,300 hectares (13 square kilometres) of solar panels and 7,700 hectares (77 square kilometres) of wind turbines including two substations and 11 kilometres of it's own transmission lines. There will be 69 wind turbines in this project each at 7MW and standing at 280m high and 200m wide which will be the largest onshore turbines in the world. This project will fall in our view and will start around eight kilometres from our house. So far across all planned projects across the region they are up to 800 wind turbines. Flocks of many different varieties of parrots fly across our valley, some in huge numbers. At certain times of the year the Corellas fly in unison at sunrise and sunset and the aerial acrobatics are mesmerising. We also enjoy watching the birds of prey hover over the paddocks. Wedge Tailed Eagles, Nankeen Kestrels, owls and bats are just some of the species that fly in this space, waterbirds and countless other varieties too. There have been 19 endangered species of birds identified in our region and all the developers have to do is purchase certificates and they will be absolved of any responsibility for the loss of these creatures. Just about every iconic Australian native animal you could name live in this part of the country. They are drawn to the easy access of water from farm dams and there are plenty of stands of native trees for them to seek refuge. As you know, the land is bulldozed down to bare earth for solar with every native tree, scrub and blade of grass removed. The larger animals such as kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and emus are driven out and fenced off from familiar territory and water sources. The smaller animals such as echidnas, turtles, reptiles and small marsupials that cannot escape in time will be bulldozed over and destroyed. There is so much in the way of large scale trucks and earthmoving equipment used to build the roads and installation of the wind turbines that the animals will be driven out from those areas too. We are gutted. We have been writing submissions and fighting against renewables for four years now. The community is being torn apart. There is so much secrecy around how things work and who is responsible for what, like the end of life decommissioning and clean-up! Just who pays for that? And how can all this possibly be returned to the way it was? The infrastructure isn't even fit for purpose, it only works part-time! Our existing solar project caught fire a few weeks ago, fortunately the panels didn't ignite as the weather conditions were benign and there was a tinge of green in the grass. Eighteen hectares of wiring was damaged but it would have been so much worse on on hot sunny day with strong winds. We get massive grass fires out here. That's one of our biggest fears with all this infrastructure going in, the fireman can't get in to fight these fires. They just fight them at the perimeters of the project. A fire at that same solar project last August was put out a few metres from the panels by helicopter water bombers. The grass was long and dry but the ground was boggy from weeks of rain and the fire trucks couldn't get in. That fire was started by dry grass built up under a ride on mower. Australia sources 90% of it's wind, solar and backup batteries from China! How does that make sense for energy security? Most of the developers are from overseas and because we have such a vast country and a sparsely spread population, mostly near the coast, we don't have the workforce for construction. One of the major solar projects near us had 550 backpackers working on it during peak build and most of them were from overseas! There is very little Australian content in all of this, it makes no sense. Among the handful of Australian's that stand to make money out of all this is the host landholders, and it's feeling a lot like they've sold out their country and their communities. The world is in a bad place at the moment. Of course none of this has anything to do with saving the planet. It's about redistribution of wealth and control. I'm hoping that more people will stand up against this madness and write to their politicians, often! We need to make ourselves heard.
@@rbfishcs123 That's why all this is happening. People are too lazy to take the time to care. The world is going to shit and we're just watching it happen.
The last offer the solar companies sent us was $35,000 a year for 80 acres for 20 years. No thank you. The wind people got a neighboring farms 750 acres. We will see how many they put up. The wind turbines at least can be farmed under.
Just going to say what a cracking drone vid 😅 still able to tango when in the sky.. I'm still using my phantom pro.. OK till it costs $305 dollars to sort 😅... Nice seeing rocket again .. your better half doesn't half look after you😊 stay safe 🏴
I’m not even a farmer and I get so pissed seeing all these fields, woods, and nature spaces being turned into more sub-divisions, shopping plazas, or industrial zones. Absolutely despise the crap. An we wonder why the environments getting worse every year.
What about all the wildlife habitat that has been lost to farm development? Farmers want farms and power companies want panels but no one is really exempt from putting someone or something else out
True enough, but draining swampland was initially heavily encouraged by government officials was it not? So what about all the farmland lost later to swamp-buster legislation? I remember playing as a kid on a series of shallow oxbow ponds that apparently just disappeared sometime in the 80s. As a nostalgic adult I searched aerial views of the land area and elevations showed upland hills where Soil Mapper said original dirt was Otter Soil Series bottom-land. I dropped by on a road trip later and inspected the area up close - what used to be flat open wet meadow with a chain of magical ponds had become hilled-up scrub timber with construction fill / concrete debris evident here and there in heaps. Just another landowner rushing to fill in wet bottom-land before the 86 regulations and clean water act stole their land. So sad... those ponds were the last healthy frog population I have ever seen. If one takes land for any reason one should compensate accordingly.
The town where I live now all around it used to be farm land whether it was a horse farm or crops and now it's all developments I live in small town of about 1600 people it may be more now but back in the 80's it was all farm land it wasn't much but still we kinda lost that small town feel now. But whether it's building or solar farms all that does is destroy land that could be used for crops. Back in the 80's our local tech college had a satellite location here right in town and they had farm land just about a half a mile away and now it's all a housing development or apartment buildings now and it were for me I would never sell for any amount of money unless like you said an easement and those are tough to fight my grandparents fought to keep their house and they lost when the state decided to build a highway right where their house was. I'm sorry you're going through this Ryan and I hope that you are able to keep your farm land.
It's a shame that so much farm land gets lost. Here in the Netherlands farmland does disappear also. Its used for building houses and those ugly solar farms. There are so many roofs in the Netherlands which don't have solar panels on them. I think at almos every dutch livestock farm they can put down solar panels instead of on farmland. Also a lot of houses dont have solar panels on their roofs yet and its quite profitable you can earn them back in 5 years i believe without selling overproduced energy
Our farm borders a rural airport, and 20 years ago they condemned and took 33/ac from us, and paid $600/ac. The county told my granddad that he was holding up progress in our county by denying them the ability to extend the runway further across our land. A longer runway would bring companies with jets and jobs they said. 20 years ago we had a single corporate plane and 4 ag spray planes. Now we have a beautiful long runway with lights, zero ag spray planes, and zero corporate planes, and zero new companies, but many that left. The airplane hangers are rented out by another farmer and they store tractors in them. My dad took the county to court and they did end up having to pay $9k per acre, but the attorney got half. In the last 20 years we would’ve made far more money off the 33 acres of ag land than the $4500/ac received.
This should be a documentary. Where do you live?
@@JamesCrouchX brooks county, GA
After they condemned the land, they didn’t have the money to do the expansion, and they rented our land out to another farmer for a few years. You can see this on historical satellite imagery. Also before they condemned it, they tried to have it classified as protected wetlands to force us out.
How exactly would you have gotten "far more than the $4,500" over the last 20 years. Do explain
@@reidhaberer7541 $4500 over 20 years would only be $225/ac. I’m clearing far above that. Not accounting for inflation 20 years ago…. But still, would’ve made more money by now and for the years to come.
theres something called public taking with JUST compensation
I made a presentation on the loss of farmland when I was in school. I tried to point out that at the current rate we might see houses torn down to create corn fields in our lifetime.
It’s very frustrating to see all these vacant lots sit empty while more and more farm land gets consumed to build developments
Ajdruck Amen!! This type of development can't continue! We really need to get our local governments and the Feds involved in offering incentives to re develop already "disturbed" land. Between the large, aggressive, corporate (foreign and domestic) acquisitions and the selling off of land by smaller farmers that can't "pass it on" for whatever reason, we're looking at serious trouble ahead! I won't live to see it, but my grandchildren will.
Did you cover foreign people and/or foreign companies owning US SOIL! That needs to change.
I agree completely, but I assume that the majority of those being sold off are the result of someone inheriting the farm, but they have no ambition or knowledge to keep it going, so they sell it for a quick payout
My family had 200 acres my great grandparents had farmed. My grandparents had careers and no interest in farming, and had pulp wood planted the last 40 years. All my life I’ve begged them to leave it to me or at least lease it to me so I could farm it again, but last year they received an offer from a developer for 12,000 an acre cash. They accepted on the spot. I couldn’t compete with that, being mid 30s with a family. It just killed me they (being already very well off) couldn’t turn down that easy money so that the land could stay in our family. 220 years, and now gone. They told me they had to earn their way, I’ll have to earn mine…. Apparently forgetting they’d inherited the land they just sold.
People complain young people ‘don’t want to farm’. It’s mostly the older generations don’t want to let us.
The problem with the vacant lots isn't that there is something on them, but that the ownership has been split up into many hands. If you want to redevelop a large area, there are a lot of owners any one of which can essentially veto the project.
I remember Brian brown saying that he had neighbors who were promised money like that for solar on thier land... company filed for bankruptcy after panels were installed, changed names and got out of the contract because different name. Ruined the land. Stripped top soil off and sold it then left solar panel waste materials that they didn't bother cleaning up which is pretty much not biodegradable at all
They told us when they first came around that they wouldn’t be doing any bulldozing. I think you can tell in this video that was false.
They do the same thing here. Come in strip and sell the top soil, get the government money to install the panels. Then they file for bankruptcy and vanish.
Well I don’t know what kind of a contract that farmer signed but he must not have read it or he was plain stupid. Around South Dakota they are trying to start solar. But they sure as hell aren’t stripping any ground especially hauling off top soil. The contracts state the company must maintain the land and must clean the land to its natural state after the contract expires. Whoever Brian is talking about is clearly so dumb he deserves to lose everything. The solar companies cannot destroy the land.
I've heard claims that the same thing happened with the wind farms in OK, but have never been able to verify them. The basic claim is that the builders/power companies didn't pay the workers, resulting in a lien on the land. The claim also portrays the land as unfarmable, but it is clearly being farmed when you drive past the wind farms.
@GilbyLandscaping how do you sue a company that doesn't exist if they filed for bankruptcy?? Like if they didn't clean up after install like supposed to. Maybe when "new company " took over they specifically stated not responsible for previous contract requirements. Them lawyers are awfully good at wording things in a round about confusing way when they want to
I have 121 acres leased out for corn and soybeans to a long-term tenant farmer. I'm being offered $600 per acre to option for a future solar installation from a French co. My problem is the contract paperwork is long and complicated (more than 80 pages) and 2 lawyers have declined to review it. I'm probably going turn it down based on the complexity of the contract.
As a young farmer who just lost his farm to the corporations, the solar easement your experiening is a real kick in the pants. I will find more land one day and attempt again. For me it was a take the money or you get nothing.
One day there will be no farm land and people will relize how much they needed us. It's amazing how many time I have herd "we don't need farmers, all my food comes from the stoor."
people need to start showing them the gun
As mentioned in the video, private companies cannot force a sale or lease.
Ah yes, the 'solar project'. Taking 'prime land' out of production. Hmm.
@@richeywcassel well no one is standing up to the government.
How can we stand up against the government when the government destroyed the communities people live in?
Where I am in the UK they are building housing estates on farmland at a horrifying rate. Every time they complete an estate they magically acquire the adjoining fields and start again!
What infuriates me about this is there's loads of Ex industrial land sitting rotting away, some of it has been like that long before I was born 36 years ago, with the old foundations of industrial buildings growing trees and weeds but the housing developers won't touch the land as it would require them to clean the site up first and the current owners don't want to sell it for reasonable money when someone shows an interest.
The UK is ran by top teir lunatics.
They need to stop developing on farm land. But all they see is empty land.
Amen. Build the solar on the roofs of the building.
I hate it when they use the word develop. I tell people that it's already developed....into farm land.
Solar an roofs is fine but there isnt enough roofs.
Where I'm at farm land either ends up as housing and the such developments or city sized warehouses.
Need to change permitting processes in cities and suburbs to allow more and denser development with a streamlined and cheap permit process.
Currently fighting solar right next to our farm in Ohio, you can't just magically make more farmland. Not against sloar energy I'd love to see them on roofs and in dry arid areas just don't destroy good usable farm ground.
just dont plant shitty corn and suddenly a 1000 acres can feed 100x more people
Agrivoltaics?
It doesn’t work that way. You can’t just put them on roofs. The solar project has to be where there is a major power line to supply the power plant and go on the grid
I'm a huge fan of solar. I also 100% agree that the panels belong on roof and over parking lots! We have plenty of roofs and parking lots. plenty of large machine sheds out there. Strengthen them and add solar. We need farm ground!
Screw your solar, you people think your doing such a great thing for the environment. When in all reality the resources used to manufacture them is worse. If these things were actually viable they wouldn't be subsidized from the tax payers. This is nothing but a way for politicians to line their pockets with taxpayers money. All while using the go green BS and so many drink the kool aid it's unbelievable. Wake up tards follow the money you may be surprised. Solyndra ring a bell to you all.
Agrivoltaics?
We were approached several years ago offering $2500 an acre for 25 years. The 25 acre piece was a quarter of a mile from a substation. We said no thanks as we had just pattern tiled it. Went past the solar field on a trip to lowa over the weekend, didn’t realize that your farm was that close to it.
This highest paying patch of farmland on our family farm (shared with my five brothers and sister) is about 1/2 acre on the corner of a field which is leased to a communications company for a cell phone tower. I beleive the current payment is about $1,900/month.
The microwave radiation is priceless
@@coocookachoo2806 You sound like a real snowflake.
@@coocookachoo2806 Sure saves reduces the energy bill when cooking popcorn.
The township will tax the land as commercial not ag. They want a chunk of lease payment.
I saw the contruction of a solar farm last year when i drove past it every few weeks. They used large tractors and scrapers, did drainage work, made retention ponds, and roads. I dont see that becoming farm land ever again and it covers a couple hundred acres i would guess
It can be farmland again but would be a huge cost to get all the payment removed and have it retilled correctly for row crops
insane when theres abandoned, polluted california/nevada desert that gets way more sun out there
I don't have an opinion on solar panels yet, but windmills come as advertised. I am from central, IL and our windmills are loud on windy days, leak oil and catch on fire(rarely), and the shadows that come from the windmill blades are no joke. 8/10 do not recommend.
Ryan, Your drone shots and music choices are the best of any farming channel I follow. Superb work in shooting and editing the shots. I know this must take hours but it was worth it for this video for sure!
We need a way to save our farmland from over developing this country needs the American Farmer more than solar panels. At least the American Farmers use the ground for what God intended for. The American Farmer is the biggest environmentalist. Not big cooperations. We need our farms and farm ground. God Bless!!
I know people watching at 4:20 are going to see all that dust and say "there goes all your topsoil" but that's mostly surface residue. It's not soil blowing away; it's busted-up plant matter and surface crust clay.
There's plenty of non productive land that can be used for that stuff. We need to protect the farmland we have left. The solar farms are quite the annoyance and some of these solar companies are here today, gone tomorrow leaving the land owners with a huge mess to clean up and an empty wallet. Good luck holding them responsible even with a clause in the contract. 2600 an acre😂😅
It's crazy how expensive land is getting. I have always wondered if it was east to start a farm back in the day compared to now, because nowadays starting a farm from scratch is a hard thing to do.
Not really, if you do not insist on a conventional row crop farm. Starting a small organic vegetable farm and then gradually expanding it is not expensive, but requires a lot of physical work.
@@klauskarbaumer6302 nah it’s extremely expensive now especially starting out, the cost of fuel, fertilizer, land, labor, machinery
@@islami658 Yes, if you buy all the things you mentioned, which points to a row crop farm. A small vegetable operation can be started with much less. I know it, because my wife and I have done it. Besides, I work the land with draft horses which I with very small input costs.
@@klauskarbaumer6302 no videos? Didn’t happen
There are 2 different companies that what to build carbon capture pipelines in NW Iowa and they are surveying on private property without permission and are trying to acquire easements with Eminent Domain. Big corporations just won’t take NO for an answer!
Perhaps someone mentioned it, I don't feel like going thru all the comments. But it is called eminent domain not an easement to forcibly take property for "the greater good of the public". You would though grant an easement if you agree to work with them.
It would be a sin to cover that land in the eyesore that is solar. I'd say the same for wind turbines.
So glad to see Rocket still going to work with you!
It's nice to see that field work has started👍😁
The solar project in your area is just horrible. Farmland should always be farmland and not turned into solar facilities!
Agrivoltaics?
I don't blame you for not taking the money, you're right with the loss of productive farm land.
Hey Ryan, Rocket is such a sweet dog I’m glad he still gets to ride in the tractor!!! Best wishes for the 2023 growing season!! Oh yeah the 4640 is such a good looking tractor, love the 40,50 and 55 series tractors ! Stay safe!!!!😎👍
Another thing that gets me about wind power is that on the Altamonte in CA/Coastal range there are Hundreds of turbine's! But at ANY given time of the day, you will find OVER 30% of the propellers are NOT turning! If it's impossible to have a 90%+ production, then what's the rhuhaha of going green?
On my father in-law's farm in Salem, Ohio, they were offering $4000.00/acre on his wooded land in 1985. They were going to build houses after the land was cleared. He did not sell.
Hey Ryan!! Hey Rocket!! Congrats on 300K!!! Gotta love that eminent domain. Corporations think they can come in and force you to sell or lease. I pray that they don't get it done . Can't wait to see the 79 and the planter working in the fields!
Eminent domain is the government. This process went all the way to the Supreme Court several years ago and guess who won.
NY state here. Have 15 acres of crop land wouldn't take the 40G if they begged me. I'll keep the land and keep on farming it.
A couple of points in the food vs. fuel debate. Remember, fuel is only a short distance behind food in the needs of society so we need to produce plenty of it.
First, eminent domain can't be used for a solar farm. To connect it to the grid, possibly but that is either poles or an underground cable rather than seizure of large tracts of land.
I know loss of farmland is a concern but it needn't be.
US electricity use = approx. 3900TWh/year. It makes little sense to produce >25% of electricity by solar so we need to produce 975TWh. Rooftop will likely produce 25% of the total so need approx. 730TWh = 730,000,000MWh.
1 acre will produce approx. 450MWh/year therefore approx. 1,622,000 acres will be needed in total.
The US has approx. 890m acres of farmland so approx. 0.2% of US farmland would be required to produce 18.75% of US electricity requirement.
If the 175 acres/hour stat is correct, this particular "gold rush" will last for 5 years and no more land will be required. Something else to be considered is that not all solar farms are sited on cropping land and, especially in the southwest, are sited on land fit for little else but solar.
If all of US electricity was required to be produced by solar, just under 10% of US farmland would be required but even the solar industry doesn't push that scenario.
Field work is so satisfying
I would look at putting farm in a conservationship ,one is set up to keep it farm land.
Congratulations on 300 k subscribers. You have a good thing going on. That sure was a lot of tractor for a light weight tool. I always like it when sir Rocket rides along. May God Bless the American farmers
4640 Low RPM, high gears. Save that fuel. Could use a larger harrow implement but a soil finisher would take the place of 2 implements in one pass behind one tractor.
We had a wind project come through putting pamphlets in everyone’s mailboxes, wanting to put a lot of wind towers in. Obviously not wanting it to get out into the community since they were paying someone to put them in mailboxes rather than mail them. Even told a neighbor they weren’t the company that would be installing, they were just buying easements and selling those to the actual company. Every one of our neighbors within about 15 miles told them to kick rocks.
There was a wind project 20 miles west of us that they screwed every person they could. Anyone that requested a tower not be by their house had one pretty much in their backyard, and they even broke laws and got a lawsuit out of it due to towers being placed too close to land borders. Needless to say I don’t see any wind towers in this county ever again, as long as they can’t claim eminent domain.
That’s the same thing they did in our area. Lied to the land owners about all the money they were going to get.
Came in started bulldozing everything in their path, made a mess of the land and left a mess behind, garbage trees, wood splinters all over from rig mats, wooden stakes scattered, and the list goes on.
The turbines were supposed to not be very large and then they put in the biggest ones they could buy!! They are a eyesore, noisy and killing all the birds. Sparrows, eagles, owls, ducks, geese, hawks the list is endless.
The land agents lied to land owners about everything they could before and after they were installed. It’s sad for us that don’t want them that have to look at them now. Disgusting
Also when the wind turbines are decommissioned it’s up to the land owners to pay for demolition!! And these so called farmers still signed up!!
@@SPR-777 demo is easy its just a cut and let it fall then haul it of for scrap
Concrete foundations are huge to the point of being impossible to remove. Bigger the tower the bigger the foundation.
We have the windmills here, hate them. I think they are causing the drought were in. Storm comes from the west and fizzles out when it gets to them.
@@hcsgmail That’s the same thing that is happening here in our area. I was just thinking about that the other day. They cause a lot of wind turbulence.
We won't need power if we don't have food!
Wow you really work that soil into a fine powder, better hope it rains or get your pivots ready, absolutely no soil aggregate. Have you considered less conventional tillage practices? I dunno , i just always figured its a waste of diesel tilling that much aggregate out of soil and turning it in to literalky dry dead dirt. I get it, im a farmer, own a disk, but why over till soybean stubble that powder?
Ryan I hope that everything is going smoothly for you because this country needs the American Farmers like you and so many more farmers. There has to be a way to save American Farm ground and not let people just do what they want just because they want to put up solar energy. I think that what it all comes down to is Greed money hungry individuals who don't have a clue about how important Agriculture is to this country!! God Bless the American Farmers and you and your family. God Bless you Ryan and keep up the fight for Agriculture!!
We're facing the prospect of a 150 mw wind development here in north central WI. We're doing what we can at the township level to educate people, and make it harder for developers to site turbines near residences, but sometimes it feels like an uphill battle for sure. We've heard muchbof the same things, promise the world when it comes to taking care of the land, but past projects show otherwise. It just doesnt seem like there's much recourse when these developers breach lease agreements.
I posted a long comment a few days ago about our experience with wind and solar here in Australia but some coward blocked me.Our farmland is being destroyed.
I may have made that harrower. I worked for a little two man shop, we put together those, hay rakes and tethers. If you find a hay rake and all the grease serts are facing the same direction I did that. Didnt have to but being a farmer once it sure makes it convenient.
Hey ! put Vortex Turbo Blades ! "They are great" I have two vertical tillage tools with them!
If you look at your new meters and delivery tubes you'll see they say kinze on them. Kinze developed the seed delivery system and ag leader developed the down force. Together they call it SureSpeed or TrueSpeed. Also if you're looking to upgrade that harrow, I'd recommend a Phillips or Kelly Mfg rotary harrow
The solar company has already taken enough land around you tell them to go pound sand up there a-- the solar panels are out of control. They can go get land that is not useful for ag. Great videos
Its saddening, seeing every single farm/field, big or small, anywhere near a larger town or city, get bought out by a housing/commercial developer separated, leveled off, and bunch of identical cheap built houses slapped on it. I am a heavy equipment operator for a family friends excavation company, and we've been doing the dirtwork for alot of said stupid developments. Its ridiculous how they can lure landowners into selling out or even kick you off land with eminent domain. If i was in yours or many farmer's shoes in that position i would put up one hell of a fight.
cheaply built houses listed for way too much no less!
I agree with you about solar on farms. Unfortunately, the siren song of easy money is hard to resist.
Seeing Rocket as your co-pilot is always good, he acts like a wise older dog.
thanks,,, you come a long ways,, since i started watching you...
There is a large solar complex being installed about 25 minutes southwest of me near a small town called Lomira in Wisconsin. Pretty much everybody in the area hates it except for the farmers who sold the land at a very high price. It was beautiful farm land that is being ruined by those ugly solar panels. I would rather have a nuclear power plant near me than one of those things, the windmills near me are bad enough.
I’m just east of Ripon. Been past that farm. It’s gut wrenching what they are doing to that land. I don’t know if I could ever do that to my farm. Four generations of relatives would turn in their graves.
The more land taken out of food production, the lower the total yield and the HIGHER the commodety prices.
Here in Michigan there is a big fight over several sights for the Chinese to come in and build battery factories for EVs. All open farmland taken for these projects instead of redeveloping the Detroit wasteland. These projects will end up as failures and the Michigan taxpayers will be on the hook once again. One of the mission statements of the World Economic Forum is to reduce world population down to 550 million people. The most efficient way to do this is famine. Next on the docket for the climate change agenda will be fertilizer use. I expect a huge onslaught of regulations or an out right ban.
Locals farms here in nw pa have been offered $7,000 an acre. Lots of ground being turned into solar farms. Very upsetting
The worst farm land here in South Dakota will bring more than 8500 a acre. If you r lucky enough to buy 40 or more acres by a highway you can sell 5 acres for 165000 for a housing eligibility. U just ended up with 35 cheap acres of farmland. I don't like it but I guess things happen that way.
its the same in gemany...we lose about 125ac per day on farmland. luckily the interest rates are going up so there are a lot less development projects going on...
Im going to give you a tip from a previous oilfield worker. Tell them if they want the land for there right of way its going to coast them $26,000 an acer than they need to times that by 10 than you'll consider of signing.
Good afternoon. In my area of Michigan, Windmill companies are paying crazy money. But you have to know and acknowledge after 20,25 or so yrs your contract is up, the mills stay you can't impede the right of way and you can't contract anyone to remove said mill/s. But you're making 6 figure's arguably.
I politely walked out of the meeting at the courthouse.
If they pay to install, they can pay to remove.
Most grandparents and parents are contracted out as all they see is money.
Ive got to ask several elder farmers and its a repeated statement, we're not worried about the kids, its our land right now and we are collecting the money as long as we can.
Just wow.
I agree, there’s a whole lot of stupidity out there!
Remind me. What was it that the "wise man" said so long ago? "The love of money is the root of all evil." Sounds 'bout right.........
SUBJECT OF VIDEO BEGINS AT 10:06 AFTER A 60 SECOND AD THAT CANNOT BE SKIPPED.
Love your drone footage!!! Great video Ryan
Around north Idaho the fastest growing crop on farm land is apartments. They are ruining the land forever.
DJI pretty much just replaces the drone. Flat rate repair everyone pays same whether it is a blade or drone meat puzzle. I deal with several companies that do same deal on repairs. I can send a unit for bad switch or burnt board, flat rate service is 350 per unit in that model group.
I turned down 22 hundred an acre for 20 years on 50 acres with an option for 20 more years. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I could use the money but its a muti generation farm.
It’s crazy crazy that you pay in the Netherlands 70000 per hectare
Great job Hannah, Ryan, Rocket, Dwight and Travis, hope Ye get some seed in soon👍🤞🙏🙂
Awsome video ryan development on farm land does effect the community and stores around us is ok for some areas but not alot of farmers are willing to give up some of their land I wish people weren't like that thumbs up and shared
Hey Ryan here in Indiana About 10 years ago we had a interstate quality highway built around our city and I know 5Farmer's lost land To the Project And not a lot of people use the new highway because they're afraid of it It was pretty much Immediate domain Government can get the land They said no development around the highway But people are still developing Along the highway. A retired English teacher I know Spend a lifetime land For her retirement with her husband And the high way Ride away Is literally 6' from the back wall of her pole barn.
Afraid of a highway?
She must not have been a very good English teacher.
I did not Spell check before pressing comment
Do you harrow before you plant? Everytime or as needed?
Hey Ryan, Yea I will try to plant some sweet corn and okra maybe some pea's. Just now getting up to the 50's Saturday and I hope no more 30's and 40's at night. Tell Dad, Travis South Carolina Larry said Hello. Take Care, Take it Easy and TRUST JESUS !!!!!!!!!!!!
They are building a huge solar farm near Brodhead, WI. Absolutely sickening to see.
How is solar land taxed after it is running? Is the landowner liable for injuries or deaths on the solar land. What if developer walks away during construction or shortly after it’s running?
It all depends how the contract is written. A good attorney and accountant is necessary throughout the process to protect yourself as much as possible.
This may be unpopular, but of course, if you'd rather be a heavy machine operator than a farmer scratching in the dirt, then you will be a price taker with the commodity crops. Whereas if you enjoy growing vegetables on a small scale and organically, you can be a price maker and enjoy returns per acre that by far far exceed any row crop.
I did a thought experiment a few years ago. If you project world peak electricity demand 20 years into the future, you could cover all of Kansas in solar panels, and it would generate 3 times that projected whole-world demand.
Not 2300 per acre here. If you have 40 acres you can sell 5 as a biulding elegability. Average 35000 per acre bare hill ground. 2:33
That ground will be completely worthless when they take those panels off if they ever do.
How do you like beans on beans? Put alot of K down?
Good for you Ryan for holding out. I agree it's not worth the money.
anyone else notice the music is what scroft uses on his farm hand vids?
Im always in favor of solar, but the whole "rent a lot" thing seems... odd. As was mentioned in another comment, I'm surprised they didn't just offer to buy the land. It feels off. Regardless, if you havent already, Id recommend you have a lawyer take a look at even their preliminary proposal. Lawyers are very good about spying loopholes.
And if you can (and decide to go with it), work in a clause that dictates what a successful decomission looks like so they cant leave it a mess at the end. (same yield as the surrounding fields or something)
What will the yields be when all the topsoil has washed away?
Who do you send the drones to? Directly to DJI?
Please don’t start Heroin. Its not good. Oh, Harrowing. Thank god.
Was that all hay fields when you had dairy?
My area is going to houses just down the road there putting 10 houses per acre on 80 acres and it sold for 40k a acre
Australian here. I have the misfortune of living in a Renewable Energy Zone. This declaration was made in recent years. I live in the Central West Tablelands of the state of New South Wales. The region that I live in is predominantly vineyards, cropping and grazing. The region originated from the goldrush era and the towns are steeped in history including hundreds of buildings considered to be of historic significance. There is a coal mine approximately 20 kilometres from our town which provides good employment for many of the local towns and keeps unemployment numbers low for the region. Given the history, scenery and wineries the area is popular with tourists which is a substantial earner for the region.
The country in this region is quite stunning with rolling rural vistas and distant mountains. Our government in it's wisdom has nominated an ever growing number of these Renewable Energy Zones throughout the eastern states of Australia. All of these zones fall within agricultural land of which Australia has a total of only 6%. Australia's total land mass is 7.688 million square kilometres which is similar to that of America excluding Alaska.
We were drawn to this region by the fact that the area is teeming with native birds and wildlife. We built our new house four years ago from the proceeds of the sale of the family home in the city. The home was designed to take advantage of the most beautiful Australian countryside you could imagine, at least to us it is.
There is an existing 87MW thin film cadmium/tellurium industrial solar project four kilometres from our home. It was commissioned in 2019 and was the third largest installation in Australia at the time. We thought we had done our bit, that it was done and dusted. Turns out they hadn't even started. A second solar project was approved last year. That one will be 400MW with a 200MW BESS backup and will be situated on 1,700 hectares (17 square kilometres) of agricultural land.
They are up to 32 projects planned so far for the region at just over halfway through the planning stages. One of these wind/solar projects will be situated in our valley and will consist of 1,300 hectares (13 square kilometres) of solar panels and 7,700 hectares (77 square kilometres) of wind turbines including two substations and 11 kilometres of it's own transmission lines. There will be 69 wind turbines in this project each at 7MW and standing at 280m high and 200m wide which will be the largest onshore turbines in the world. This project will fall in our view and will start around eight kilometres from our house. So far across all planned projects across the region they are up to 800 wind turbines.
Flocks of many different varieties of parrots fly across our valley, some in huge numbers. At certain times of the year the Corellas fly in unison at sunrise and sunset and the aerial acrobatics are mesmerising. We also enjoy watching the birds of prey hover over the paddocks. Wedge Tailed Eagles, Nankeen Kestrels, owls and bats are just some of the species that fly in this space, waterbirds and countless other varieties too. There have been 19 endangered species of birds identified in our region and all the developers have to do is purchase certificates and they will be absolved of any responsibility for the loss of these creatures.
Just about every iconic Australian native animal you could name live in this part of the country. They are drawn to the easy access of water from farm dams and there are plenty of stands of native trees for them to seek refuge. As you know, the land is bulldozed down to bare earth for solar with every native tree, scrub and blade of grass removed. The larger animals such as kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and emus are driven out and fenced off from familiar territory and water sources. The smaller animals such as echidnas, turtles, reptiles and small marsupials that cannot escape in time will be bulldozed over and destroyed. There is so much in the way of large scale trucks and earthmoving equipment used to build the roads and installation of the wind turbines that the animals will be driven out from those areas too.
We are gutted. We have been writing submissions and fighting against renewables for four years now. The community is being torn apart. There is so much secrecy around how things work and who is responsible for what, like the end of life decommissioning and clean-up! Just who pays for that? And how can all this possibly be returned to the way it was? The infrastructure isn't even fit for purpose, it only works part-time!
Our existing solar project caught fire a few weeks ago, fortunately the panels didn't ignite as the weather conditions were benign and there was a tinge of green in the grass. Eighteen hectares of wiring was damaged but it would have been so much worse on on hot sunny day with strong winds. We get massive grass fires out here. That's one of our biggest fears with all this infrastructure going in, the fireman can't get in to fight these fires. They just fight them at the perimeters of the project. A fire at that same solar project last August was put out a few metres from the panels by helicopter water bombers. The grass was long and dry but the ground was boggy from weeks of rain and the fire trucks couldn't get in. That fire was started by dry grass built up under a ride on mower.
Australia sources 90% of it's wind, solar and backup batteries from China! How does that make sense for energy security? Most of the developers are from overseas and because we have such a vast country and a sparsely spread population, mostly near the coast, we don't have the workforce for construction. One of the major solar projects near us had 550 backpackers working on it during peak build and most of them were from overseas! There is very little Australian content in all of this, it makes no sense. Among the handful of Australian's that stand to make money out of all this is the host landholders, and it's feeling a lot like they've sold out their country and their communities.
The world is in a bad place at the moment. Of course none of this has anything to do with saving the planet. It's about redistribution of wealth and control. I'm hoping that more people will stand up against this madness and write to their politicians, often! We need to make ourselves heard.
shame you spent all that time writing your massive wall of text that no one reads
@@rbfishcs123 That's why all this is happening. People are too lazy to take the time to care. The world is going to shit and we're just watching it happen.
@@rbfishcs123 An 11 year old account and no content, very odd. I'm guessing you blocked me. Must be a developer.
@@rbfishcs123 You are a coward.
Dont worry we are an hour west of you and we havent planted anything either until today may 3rd
We have them solar farmers here where I live here in Ohio it makes me sick seeing them going on good farm land that I would love to farm
The last offer the solar companies sent us was $35,000 a year for 80 acres for 20 years. No thank you. The wind people got a neighboring farms 750 acres. We will see how many they put up. The wind turbines at least can be farmed under.
Beautiful 4xxx series.
Put that harrow behind the VT! They sell a hitch for it!
Can anyone point me in the right direction? I’d like to with this harrow but she’s a bit larger than the VT
@@HowFarmsWork lol- be cheaper to cut the harrow down than buy a VT!
Seems like harrowing is a thing of the past. Ever thought of trying to pull a rolling harrow/basket behind the VT and save a pass
Hey everybody it's Ryan and Rocket 🐕🦺🥰
Eminent domain could be coming for those 30 acres in the future
here in greece buying for 8000euros per acre or rent for 600euros for 20years
Just going to say what a cracking drone vid 😅 still able to tango when in the sky.. I'm still using my phantom pro.. OK till it costs $305 dollars to sort 😅... Nice seeing rocket again .. your better half doesn't half look after you😊 stay safe 🏴
Land around me is going for $16,500 an acre. Still no way in hell id give up land even with easement aka as eminent domain.
I’m not even a farmer and I get so pissed seeing all these fields, woods, and nature spaces being turned into more sub-divisions, shopping plazas, or industrial zones. Absolutely despise the crap. An we wonder why the environments getting worse every year.
What about all the wildlife habitat that has been lost to farm development? Farmers want farms and power companies want panels but no one is really exempt from putting someone or something else out
True enough, but draining swampland was initially heavily encouraged by government officials was it not? So what about all the farmland lost later to swamp-buster legislation? I remember playing as a kid on a series of shallow oxbow ponds that apparently just disappeared sometime in the 80s. As a nostalgic adult I searched aerial views of the land area and elevations showed upland hills where Soil Mapper said original dirt was Otter Soil Series bottom-land. I dropped by on a road trip later and inspected the area up close - what used to be flat open wet meadow with a chain of magical ponds had become hilled-up scrub timber with construction fill / concrete debris evident here and there in heaps. Just another landowner rushing to fill in wet bottom-land before the 86 regulations and clean water act stole their land. So sad... those ponds were the last healthy frog population I have ever seen. If one takes land for any reason one should compensate accordingly.
The town where I live now all around it used to be farm land whether it was a horse farm or crops and now it's all developments I live in small town of about 1600 people it may be more now but back in the 80's it was all farm land it wasn't much but still we kinda lost that small town feel now. But whether it's building or solar farms all that does is destroy land that could be used for crops. Back in the 80's our local tech college had a satellite location here right in town and they had farm land just about a half a mile away and now it's all a housing development or apartment buildings now and it were for me I would never sell for any amount of money unless like you said an easement and those are tough to fight my grandparents fought to keep their house and they lost when the state decided to build a highway right where their house was. I'm sorry you're going through this Ryan and I hope that you are able to keep your farm land.
It's a shame that so much farm land gets lost. Here in the Netherlands farmland does disappear also. Its used for building houses and those ugly solar farms. There are so many roofs in the Netherlands which don't have solar panels on them. I think at almos every dutch livestock farm they can put down solar panels instead of on farmland. Also a lot of houses dont have solar panels on their roofs yet and its quite profitable you can earn them back in 5 years i believe without selling overproduced energy
Hey Ryan, would you have any idea what temperate the transmission of the 4640 should operate at ? Thank you if you can help.
At least you can charge your car , get to ze store so they can eat ze bugs.
As Duffy Ag pointed out yesterday that land will never be tilled again
thank you
Nothing planted out by me yet either but, I would imagine by next week's things will burning an turning. Holy crap that much per acre. Sheesh!
Shouldn't this terrify absolutely everybody??!