The Solar Trade Association said will be writing Truss today following her statements in a Daily Mail interview that farmland should be used for ‘food and crops’, and that she plans to cut a taxpayer subsidy to farmers and landowners for the schemes.
In a written statement, the trade group says, "The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced that farmers will no longer be allowed to claim agricultural subsidies for land dedicated to solar, but has failed to consider how solar and farming can actually go hand in hand."
“It is damaging and incorrect for Defra to suggest that solar farms are in conflict with food production," said Leonie Greene, head of external affairs at the Solar Trade Association.
"The Government’s own planning guidance makes clear that farming practices should continue on solar farms on greenfield land," Greene continued. "The industry, working with the National Farmers Union, has been very careful to define good practice to ensure continued agricultural production. Indeed detailed guidance on this is being discussed by the All Party Group for Beef and Lamb in the House of Commons today.
“The land is still available for farming – the solar fixings only take up 5 percent of the land. This means plenty of room for continued agricultural practices such as sheep, geese or chicken farming. As far as farm payments are concerned, solar should really be treated in the same way as orchards or fields with trees, where animals continue to graze the land in between," Greene added.
The association maintains that solar farms play an important role in conserving the UK's countryside.
"Not only can solar power save huge amounts of greenhouse gases, but solar farms can provide protected spaces for boosting biodiversity, such as wildflowers and bees, as well as providing greater income stability for farmers who face increasing weather risk due to climate change," Greene said
The group points out that the government’s own planning guidance on renewable energy from July 2013 states that solar farms on greenfield land should allow for “continued agricultural use and/or encourage biodiversity improvements”.
It also notes that just last month, the National Solar Centre, together with the National Farmers’ Union and a number of leading solar developers, published new guidance on how to combine solar farms with the grazing of sheep, the rearing of chickens or geese or indeed the growing of vegetables or other crops.
For additional information:
