Farming Replaced by Solar Power, By Richard Miller (London)

It has been one thing for environmentalists to simply write academic articles about the need for radical policy change to deal with a supposed climate crisis, but another thing entirely when their policies are put into place. Be sure that the first to be harmed will never be the globalists, or their projects, such as free trade and mass immigration. Indeed, in Australia, the Greens not only support the present insane mass immigration program, but want even more, and it is much the same in the UK. It is socialism on steroids.

Here in the UK, the environmentalist mania is being manifested in many ways, and with Labour now in power, not only will free speech, what remains of it, will be devoured, but so will farmland, and farming. Large-scale solar farms are being put up on once conventional farming land. With farming itself precarious due to uncertainties in markets, farmers are taking money from big business who are eager to put up solar farms, and wind turbines as well. The idea of solar farms here in the UK is somewhat ridiculous in my opinion, given the lack of sunlight here relative to say the deserts of Australia, where I suppose solar farms could in principle be placed. I suspect that the real agenda here in the UK is not so much the solar farms, but the elimination of farming, which would fit into the Great Reset scam and the UN's Agenda 2030, where resources concentrate into the greedy hands of the globalists.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2024-06-19-farmers-kicked-out-land-for-solar-power.html

"Minette Batters, the former president of the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales, has warned that farmers are being driven out of their land because of large-scale solar farms.

Batters mentioned some "horrific examples" of tenant farmers being forced out of land for solar schemes so the landowner can earn more. According to Batters, these changes in land use will continue while investors, along with overseas financiers and private equity firms, take advantage of the unfair situation by buying up large tracts of the rural landscape.

With the country "up for sale," Batters demanded that the next government prioritize a new land strategy to protect traditional farming and properly acknowledge its economic value.

During a debate at the 2024 Hay Literary Festival, Batters responded to a question from an audience member who was "horrified about the proliferation of giant solar farms covering several square miles of land."

Batters said that while she understands the opposition to solar farms, she also sympathized with farmers who are investing in similar projects because they are a source of "a guaranteed, index-linked income for decades." She added that for the rest of the country, there is a lot to object to when it comes to solar farms, especially since there is only "one beneficiary."

In other cases, the farmers themselves were forced to leave their farms to make way for solar farms, especially if the farmers were tenants of larger landowners.

Batters criticized how land ownership by wealthy investors and private equity firms is being allowed to continue. She also brought up the debt-ridden private equity takeover of supermarket chain Morrisons, warning that they might not "have a British-owned supermarket in 10 years."

With the country "up for sale," Batters cautioned that the United Kingdom is slowly "selling off land to people who don't pay their taxes here," a practice that must change to help farmers gain an edge in a battle that they are often losing.

Governments should promote solar power on rooftops instead of land.

According to Batters, the situation will continue until the nation develops a "meaningful land use strategy" that gives value to land used for traditional farming, along with new developments such as solar and housing. She also encouraged governments to help promote solar on rooftops instead of land and allow wind turbines.

Batters noted that even British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it is time "to stop putting solar on land and put it on rooftops." While large-scale onshore wind farms were subject to a de facto ban until 2023, wind turbines are allowed on a small scale.

As of writing, there are at least 500 solar farms throughout the U.K. The current largest, which is in Shotwick Park in Flintshire, North Wales, covers 250 acres.

However, the Shotwick Park solar farm would be dwarfed by the Botley West solar farm, which is planned for three sites totalling 2,471 acres on land owned by Blenheim Palace. Another 2,500-acre solar farm is being proposed on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border.