UPDATE Defra admits it has no idea about size of solar farm impact on food production
Business Green: Written ministerial answer confirms no estimate has been produced as to the amount of land taken out of fruit and veg production to make way for solar farms. The admission will further fuel accusations from across the solar industry that the Conservative wing of the coalition is pursuing measures to restrict the development of solar farms that are not backed up by sufficient evidence, have not been adequately consulted on, and are hampering the development of a popular clean technology in a bid to woo rural voters who may have been won over by UKIP’s anti-renewables stance.
Professional Engineering: ‘Farmers will no longer receive CAP subsidies for having solar farms on their land, under new rules put forward by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The plans aim to ensure that more agricultural land is dedicated to growing crops and food The change will come into effect from January 2015 and means 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.” She added by making it less financially attractive for farmers to install solar panels. Farmers will lose their right to claim subsidies for fields filled with solar panels under the plans, which Defra claims, to “will help rural communities who do not want their countryside blighted by solar farms”.