He says the topsoil is removed to allow for the solar panels.
Solar panels.
Frederick Md (KM Data centers have been described as the biggest threat to farmland in Maryland. But that’s not the case according to Frederick County Council President Brad Young. He says it’s agricultural land being turned into a field of solar panels.
During a recent appearance on WFMD”s “Morning News Express,” he said the county has no control over where solar panels are placed. It’s the responsibility of the state which has been pushing for solar energy for some time.
“These farmers are being offered exorbitant prices to put these solar fields there. And, again, it’s taking that out of agricultural production, ” says Young.
He says some farmers have taken up the offer to allow solar panels to be placed on their properties. “It’s very enticing. It’s certainly never would be mad at a farmer for looking at that. Each farmer has to do what’s best for them and their family. But, again, this is enticing a lot of people to say ‘you know what: farming isn’t paying what it used to pay so why not put the solar field out there,'” he says.
Even if solar becomes less desirable in the future, Young says that property where the solar panels were placed cannot be returned to farming because much the topsoil was removed. He points to a former farm located at Dublin and Biggs Ford Roads in Walkersville which is now filled with solar panels. “That farm will never be in farming again,” he says. “They claim that if solar goes out of date, they can take it off. They stripped all the topsoil. and moved it around. That farm won’t ever be back in farming again.”
Young says the goal in Frederick County is to have 150,000 acres of local agricultural land placed in easements which means that nothing can be built on it, and it must remain as farmland.
By Kevin McManus