Plans for UK’s largest solar “farm” on “arable” (suitable for farming) land in East Anglia, Sunnica energy farm, has reignited a country wide debate on whether the land should be used to produce Food or Energy. Much of the land is Grade 3 – Good quality Agricultural land.
A farmer who lives nearby said, “The sheer size is community-changing. It will have a massive impact - as an industry we need to ask why this area of quality land should be covered in solar panels?”
“...solar panels were better suited to brownfield sites, buildings and rooftops – not agricultural land, which should be used for food production.”
A professor who is a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society, made the comment, “Land is finite, and whatever you use it for there are trade-offs."
“Sometimes these trade-offs are acceptable and sometimes they are not."
“I have a particular concern about food security – the Sunnica proposal is for land that is very productive.”
To read the entire article, click Hugh solar farm sparks calls for food versus fuel debate
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