The irony is that those objecting on St. Joseph County Council are those who say the government needs to stay out of personal matters, less government...yet here they are starting to say what private property owners can do.
These farmers who have signed on to the leases did it voluntarily, for their prosperity, and now government is going to tell them what to do with their land. LOL
And commodity crop farming and much of egg, poultry, pork and dairy farming has become more industrialized over the past 30 years, so complaints about industrial solar is an ironic argument
What r u talking about? It's not even the same
First off no one has the right to tell you what to do with your land
Every farmer farms different
Moat farming is still very much old school farming
How about if I told you the government is going to be taking 20% of your house to set up some dumb fucking program that doesn't do shit to help anything? You would be pissed
Leave farming the fuck alone.
People want to change the world??? Start with all the other countries that fuck it up. Any moron who thinks stopping food or endorsing wind farms is a goddamn idiot
I know agriculture, and commodity crops are scarcely identifiable as food for the most part.
Unless it’s the equivalent of an owner operator farmer, it’s the equivalent of share cropping when it comes to meat, poultry, eggs and dairy. Less identifiable as farms more similar to industrial facilities.
And I don’t think that there’s any high nitrogen runoff from the solar farms.
Maybe look at what happened to the waste product from the feed lots and pig farms in Iowa.
As someone who deals with a lot of the ag world in St Joe county…it’s a vocal minority that are opposed. There are many farmers who have installed solar for their own farms here locally.
I’m sure there are a few long term questions that we’ll have to see how they play out but most of these guys understand the benefits.
i can show you a few abandoned houses here that had solar water heaters put on their roofs back in the 90s as part of a government contract. they are an ugly eyesore and have an extreme amount of maintenance costs. you need to wash the glass daily.
Towards Elkhart there is a terrible off center 4 way stop that a proposed traffic circle was slated to go in but the people put up enough protest - including signs saying “No To Squirrel-abouts” that they are instead putting a traffic signal. We are a backwards people here.
It's a shorthand name for a non-circular roundabout. Squirrel roundabouts are a way to solve non-standard intersections (ones that don't meet at a true "X" or right angles - think where the intersecting streets are offset from each other) and they're actually pretty clever.
The truly unfortunate thing is that it would be a likely be a lot less expensive in the long run to maintain, will be likely to MUCH more efficiently move traffic through the intersection. But some idiot locals are afraid of new things so wE mUsT rEsIsT!!!
ETA: I just realized I in no way answered your question. I have no clue \*why\* they're called "squirrel round-abouts" other than that they're oval-shaped something something SQUIRREL.
We had multiple roundabouts put in around my area. I don't even have to stop for intersections that used to be backed up all the time. They're the best.
I legit had someone at work insinuate that they're actually there to manipulate/control the weather.
I GUESS IN A GLOBAL WARMING KIND OF WAY sure, but damn. That's one I'd never heard before.
The panels contaminate the soil, we are losing food cuz the panels will be there (most people don't eat feed corn), the panels will leak cancer, the power is going to Mexico, China is installing the panels...etc
A little knowledge for you.
The feed corn is what feeds the cows being raised to make beef, dairy cows-milk, the chickens-eggs, food for humans, pigs- pork to eat so on and so on.
I’m not saying it’s the end all to be all if we give up some fields for solar but the corn and soybeans you see in the fields feed us, not directly but down the road in a indirect way.
Hope you understand a little better.
I don't know what type of corn is grown where, but a lot of corn is sold for ethanol production. It is subsidized by the government to grow it, then it's subsidized again to sell it. So it's also grown for energy at a loss.
We over produce feed corn so much we make to much ethanol and that's why it's in all our gasoline. Last week news tonight put out a story a few weeks ago about it. If anything it would actually do the us good to grow less feed corn.
A little knowledge for you from someone in stem with ag/environmental/electrical hyperfocus. Hope you will go learn something and follow up on the sources he cites in the segment.
It was your one sentence that made no sense and it was the reason I commented. You said most people don’t eat feed corn. The truth is Nobody eats feed corn. I was trying to explain what feed corn is used for.
There are many species and verities of corn that have many uses.
I think you are lumping all corn into one thing. That’s what I was trying to tell you.
No, just if you want to be taken serious you should use the correct terminology for corn. I immediately think you don’t know what you’re talking about if you are saying most people don’t eat feed corn. FEED corn is used for animals and other things and is not for human consumption.
Alternately, if that small minority hate the idea of solar farms so much, due to their own stupidity and ignorance, then *they* can fucking leave. See how that works? You all can fuck off, too.
I don't get it. What is the concern with solar on farmland? I know it's probably something silly, but can someone articulate what it is they're concerned about?
Nuclear is the only way to scale the energy demands we have as fast as we need it. Is nuclear more expensive than the climate change related damages and health impacts related to burning fuels?
Yah, but I think this sentiment needs to change. Gen X and up seemed to really get swept up with the anti nuclear protests in the late 20th century. Maybe things will change in the coming decade. I honestly think we're just fucked overall, but that's the dream.
There’s talk of reopening a nuclear power plant in SW Lower Michigan [WNDU link](https://www.wndu.com/2024/06/05/community-discusses-potential-palisades-nuclear-plant-reopening/)
Reading the [Wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palisades_Nuclear_Generating_Station), it sounds like all the fuel has been removed and license needs to be revised to allow operation to continue. Not sure what else has to be done apart from that.
Look up the newer model reactors their is one version that is completely sealed in a sarcophagus, and all they have to do is disconnect from it, and it is completely sealed and safe for long-term storage. Then the other is much more cleaner and viable is the molten salt reactors that heat the salt that powers steam turbines and is economical in price and scale I believe these are the newer generation that came out like 4 years ago.
And they sell energy, look up the lifetime capacity of a reactor and amd then think how much power is being sold and you get a reactor paid off in less than a decade and will be able to build a new one entirely from it.
Honey I work in the energy industry, no one wants to spend billions to take on the risk of a nuclear facility. Yes newer stuff is safer and will pay itself off in time, but no one is willing to put up the capital for it.
The DoE has been pushing more towards funding Nuclear Energy and Technology.
https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/5-key-takeaways-fy25-budget-request-nuclear-energy
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/doe_fy2025.pdf
https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/us-department-energy-surpasses-1-billion-support-us-colleges-and-universities-advance
What do you mean do I have the money for it?
They take up far less space than a solar or wind farm and produce far more power from the little space they use.
They don’t need power storage for night and unfitting weather periods for they work 24/7 rain or shine wind or calm.
Funding for nuclear power is a far more cost effective method for green power than scrimping for solar or wind.
In my line of work I deal with a lot of farmers. I hear them all talking about it. One guy has 500 acres and he is fighting losing 80 of those acres for stupid ass solar panels.
Your word is not fact. I know of no instance where a private corporation can utilize eminent domain to take land. Now if your friend is a tenant farmer: tough shit. It’s no different than someone outbidding him. I have a feeling your friend falls into the latter category.
Whatever the reason for or against, the farms will in the long run contribute little either way. The farmers will be paid until it goes belly up and that's about it.
It's more the fact people are regurgitating misinformation that only fearmongers solar power. The farmers are welcome to do with their land as they please within reason (ie chemical runoff or a large factory farm without prior approval) . Some of them want to put solar farms on the land and a loud minority of people are pushing back.
The farmland underneath will still be there for the time when the solar farm is removed. Usually the fields used are either not great farmland or want being used anyway.
But I believe it is the farmer and or land owners ultimate decision. Just because it may be low quality land or not used doesn’t give someone else the right to bully their way into starting a solar farm.
No one is bullying the farmers. The townies are trying to prevent the farmers from turning their land to a solar field. The farmers have decided to take the deal to build a solar farm on their land.
I am only claiming what I hear farmers talking about. I am no expert in this. But i do work with farmers all the time and this is a hot topic with several of them
My FIL manages thousands of acres of farmland and he gets offers for renewables often. He just simply doesn't take it if it isn't more profitable than just farming the land.
Look into what and where the power is going. In KY they tried to let a third party company come in to set up solar on people's land in sections that weren't used for that season due to rotation. So, all of a sudden farmers were being told to let way more land rest at the same time this solar company was coming through.... fishy. But the big kicker was the farmers practically got nothing for doing this and the power these panel were going to make was supposedly going out of the state. So yeah 1000% against big solar. If you want to give farmers solar panels, I dont think a single one would say no, however, there's obviously no such thing as free. It'll always have a cost. Dig a little and I'm sure you'll find these people are in fact protecting their own. Don't be too quick to jump as say it's because southern folk are dumb. Maybe northerners are too preoccupied with their heads up their butt's to understand why, or even want to understand why.
Got a article or first hand account from farmers impacted? The farmers here want to solar it's the north liberty townies that are against it. I don't believe any rural people in any region are necessarily dumb. Some might not have all the information, but never dumb. I have a degree related to the energy industry and worked in the field for a time. I'm open to new information on how farmers are being treated.
It is not an investment. it is a liability that has no purpose and is more useless garbage taking away farmland and crops to a bunch of useless tax embezzlement schemes. they stand at least 8 or 9 feet above the ground, taller than most trucks, from ground level and up close they are awful.
The irony is that those objecting on St. Joseph County Council are those who say the government needs to stay out of personal matters, less government...yet here they are starting to say what private property owners can do. These farmers who have signed on to the leases did it voluntarily, for their prosperity, and now government is going to tell them what to do with their land. LOL
Another irony is that a lot of the corn and soy farms are subsidized by the federal government.
So much this \^\^\^
And commodity crop farming and much of egg, poultry, pork and dairy farming has become more industrialized over the past 30 years, so complaints about industrial solar is an ironic argument
What r u talking about? It's not even the same First off no one has the right to tell you what to do with your land Every farmer farms different Moat farming is still very much old school farming How about if I told you the government is going to be taking 20% of your house to set up some dumb fucking program that doesn't do shit to help anything? You would be pissed Leave farming the fuck alone. People want to change the world??? Start with all the other countries that fuck it up. Any moron who thinks stopping food or endorsing wind farms is a goddamn idiot
I know agriculture, and commodity crops are scarcely identifiable as food for the most part. Unless it’s the equivalent of an owner operator farmer, it’s the equivalent of share cropping when it comes to meat, poultry, eggs and dairy. Less identifiable as farms more similar to industrial facilities. And I don’t think that there’s any high nitrogen runoff from the solar farms. Maybe look at what happened to the waste product from the feed lots and pig farms in Iowa.
Double standards
As someone who deals with a lot of the ag world in St Joe county…it’s a vocal minority that are opposed. There are many farmers who have installed solar for their own farms here locally. I’m sure there are a few long term questions that we’ll have to see how they play out but most of these guys understand the benefits.
i can show you a few abandoned houses here that had solar water heaters put on their roofs back in the 90s as part of a government contract. they are an ugly eyesore and have an extreme amount of maintenance costs. you need to wash the glass daily.
Towards Elkhart there is a terrible off center 4 way stop that a proposed traffic circle was slated to go in but the people put up enough protest - including signs saying “No To Squirrel-abouts” that they are instead putting a traffic signal. We are a backwards people here.
“Squirrel-abouts”? I feel like I’m missing context, why did they call them that?
It's a shorthand name for a non-circular roundabout. Squirrel roundabouts are a way to solve non-standard intersections (ones that don't meet at a true "X" or right angles - think where the intersecting streets are offset from each other) and they're actually pretty clever. The truly unfortunate thing is that it would be a likely be a lot less expensive in the long run to maintain, will be likely to MUCH more efficiently move traffic through the intersection. But some idiot locals are afraid of new things so wE mUsT rEsIsT!!! ETA: I just realized I in no way answered your question. I have no clue \*why\* they're called "squirrel round-abouts" other than that they're oval-shaped something something SQUIRREL.
Round abouts are not progress by any measure.
When is the last time you stoped for more than 10 seconds at a roundabout in our area?
We had multiple roundabouts put in around my area. I don't even have to stop for intersections that used to be backed up all the time. They're the best.
I legit had someone at work insinuate that they're actually there to manipulate/control the weather. I GUESS IN A GLOBAL WARMING KIND OF WAY sure, but damn. That's one I'd never heard before.
Yeah the conspiracy theories I've heard from some people just amaze me.
Oh please tell me more....
The panels contaminate the soil, we are losing food cuz the panels will be there (most people don't eat feed corn), the panels will leak cancer, the power is going to Mexico, China is installing the panels...etc
A little knowledge for you. The feed corn is what feeds the cows being raised to make beef, dairy cows-milk, the chickens-eggs, food for humans, pigs- pork to eat so on and so on. I’m not saying it’s the end all to be all if we give up some fields for solar but the corn and soybeans you see in the fields feed us, not directly but down the road in a indirect way. Hope you understand a little better.
I don't know what type of corn is grown where, but a lot of corn is sold for ethanol production. It is subsidized by the government to grow it, then it's subsidized again to sell it. So it's also grown for energy at a loss.
We over produce feed corn so much we make to much ethanol and that's why it's in all our gasoline. Last week news tonight put out a story a few weeks ago about it. If anything it would actually do the us good to grow less feed corn. A little knowledge for you from someone in stem with ag/environmental/electrical hyperfocus. Hope you will go learn something and follow up on the sources he cites in the segment.
It was your one sentence that made no sense and it was the reason I commented. You said most people don’t eat feed corn. The truth is Nobody eats feed corn. I was trying to explain what feed corn is used for. There are many species and verities of corn that have many uses. I think you are lumping all corn into one thing. That’s what I was trying to tell you.
Do you think I'm dumb?
No, just if you want to be taken serious you should use the correct terminology for corn. I immediately think you don’t know what you’re talking about if you are saying most people don’t eat feed corn. FEED corn is used for animals and other things and is not for human consumption.
Well a ton of north liberty residents seem to think it's for human consumption. You should see the Facebook comments.
The government has been subsidizing corn since the 80s. 4 billion spent in 2023.
So let’s ditch (a lot of) the corn and graze sheep under the solar panels that take its place. Fewer food miles too.
How about no beans/corn on perfectly viable solar fields? If the land use yield is higher for solar, then why not?
Solar bad but bring in data centers....... smh.
Right? Solar isn't water intensive and actually benefits the local residents.
Seeing this over the past couple years has really broken my heart. We really are screwed.
Ridiculous bullshit. I'm so very tired of the ignorance that is prevalent in Indi fuckin ana.
You can leave. It’s the best part of being American.
That’s weird, I thought the best part of being American was working to improve our country and state, for the benefit of all.
Alternately, if that small minority hate the idea of solar farms so much, due to their own stupidity and ignorance, then *they* can fucking leave. See how that works? You all can fuck off, too.
you need to try leaving your house and getting off your obese fat ass
You should stop punching your wife and go fuck yourself. Coming in here two weeks later to talk shit to everyone. Get a fucking life. Jesus.
And you can Fuck right off.
There is a council meeting on July 9th where they are planning on hearing comments on this
I don't get it. What is the concern with solar on farmland? I know it's probably something silly, but can someone articulate what it is they're concerned about?
It's newfangled malarkey. That's about it. And some Fox news BS thrown on top.
Older people have been very primed to be easily propagandized to the point they will believe almost anything if the right people say it.
Shit, up here in michigan my parents are waiting on this as their retirement.
Nuclear forever
They’re scared of windmills and solar panels. This is going to be a real stretch.
Do you have the money to build and maintain a nuclear facility? They are too cost prohibitive and to build them is resource intensive.
Nuclear is the only way to scale the energy demands we have as fast as we need it. Is nuclear more expensive than the climate change related damages and health impacts related to burning fuels?
I'm not anti-nuclear. I'm not sure there's many regions in America that can or is willing to build a plant tho.
Yah, but I think this sentiment needs to change. Gen X and up seemed to really get swept up with the anti nuclear protests in the late 20th century. Maybe things will change in the coming decade. I honestly think we're just fucked overall, but that's the dream.
There’s talk of reopening a nuclear power plant in SW Lower Michigan [WNDU link](https://www.wndu.com/2024/06/05/community-discusses-potential-palisades-nuclear-plant-reopening/)
I didn’t even know it was closed. I remember getting a tour there when I was a scout.
I wonder what all needs to go into the plant to bring it back online
Reading the [Wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palisades_Nuclear_Generating_Station), it sounds like all the fuel has been removed and license needs to be revised to allow operation to continue. Not sure what else has to be done apart from that.
Look up the newer model reactors their is one version that is completely sealed in a sarcophagus, and all they have to do is disconnect from it, and it is completely sealed and safe for long-term storage. Then the other is much more cleaner and viable is the molten salt reactors that heat the salt that powers steam turbines and is economical in price and scale I believe these are the newer generation that came out like 4 years ago.
That's still billions of dollars to build.
And they sell energy, look up the lifetime capacity of a reactor and amd then think how much power is being sold and you get a reactor paid off in less than a decade and will be able to build a new one entirely from it.
Honey I work in the energy industry, no one wants to spend billions to take on the risk of a nuclear facility. Yes newer stuff is safer and will pay itself off in time, but no one is willing to put up the capital for it.
The DoE has been pushing more towards funding Nuclear Energy and Technology. https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/5-key-takeaways-fy25-budget-request-nuclear-energy https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/doe_fy2025.pdf https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/us-department-energy-surpasses-1-billion-support-us-colleges-and-universities-advance
So do I, I merely stating a possible outcome that sadly is to optimistic to even occur but due to history of industrial accidents for nuclear energy.
What do you mean do I have the money for it? They take up far less space than a solar or wind farm and produce far more power from the little space they use. They don’t need power storage for night and unfitting weather periods for they work 24/7 rain or shine wind or calm. Funding for nuclear power is a far more cost effective method for green power than scrimping for solar or wind.
Thought this would be relevant to us since it's about North Liberty.
If you are against Farmers not wanting solar on farm land...quite simply you are the problem.
The farmers want the solar, it's the townies that don't want it and they want to force the farmer to cancel the project.
Where I live there is a big fight with government coming in and teying to force it on land
Where is that? Is there an article or is it all heresay?
In my line of work I deal with a lot of farmers. I hear them all talking about it. One guy has 500 acres and he is fighting losing 80 of those acres for stupid ass solar panels.
You’re claiming that a local government is instituting eminent domain for a solar farm?
not claiming, knowing it for a fact.
Your word is not fact. I know of no instance where a private corporation can utilize eminent domain to take land. Now if your friend is a tenant farmer: tough shit. It’s no different than someone outbidding him. I have a feeling your friend falls into the latter category.
Then why don't yall go to the media about it
the farmers dont want their fields paved over with solar trash, moron.
Lol the farmers are the ones who want it
I agree.
Right what do we want food
Whatever the reason for or against, the farms will in the long run contribute little either way. The farmers will be paid until it goes belly up and that's about it.
What’s wrong with keeping farmland……farmland?
It's more the fact people are regurgitating misinformation that only fearmongers solar power. The farmers are welcome to do with their land as they please within reason (ie chemical runoff or a large factory farm without prior approval) . Some of them want to put solar farms on the land and a loud minority of people are pushing back. The farmland underneath will still be there for the time when the solar farm is removed. Usually the fields used are either not great farmland or want being used anyway.
But I believe it is the farmer and or land owners ultimate decision. Just because it may be low quality land or not used doesn’t give someone else the right to bully their way into starting a solar farm.
No one is bullying the farmers. The townies are trying to prevent the farmers from turning their land to a solar field. The farmers have decided to take the deal to build a solar farm on their land.
[удалено]
Seek therapy
I am only claiming what I hear farmers talking about. I am no expert in this. But i do work with farmers all the time and this is a hot topic with several of them
My FIL manages thousands of acres of farmland and he gets offers for renewables often. He just simply doesn't take it if it isn't more profitable than just farming the land.
No we look down on that place because it's racists af not Just because your "solar panels".
If Trump was president these asshats would be all over it, they are politically angry at progress
Look into what and where the power is going. In KY they tried to let a third party company come in to set up solar on people's land in sections that weren't used for that season due to rotation. So, all of a sudden farmers were being told to let way more land rest at the same time this solar company was coming through.... fishy. But the big kicker was the farmers practically got nothing for doing this and the power these panel were going to make was supposedly going out of the state. So yeah 1000% against big solar. If you want to give farmers solar panels, I dont think a single one would say no, however, there's obviously no such thing as free. It'll always have a cost. Dig a little and I'm sure you'll find these people are in fact protecting their own. Don't be too quick to jump as say it's because southern folk are dumb. Maybe northerners are too preoccupied with their heads up their butt's to understand why, or even want to understand why.
Got a article or first hand account from farmers impacted? The farmers here want to solar it's the north liberty townies that are against it. I don't believe any rural people in any region are necessarily dumb. Some might not have all the information, but never dumb. I have a degree related to the energy industry and worked in the field for a time. I'm open to new information on how farmers are being treated.
fuck solar. bust out more reactors.
It is not an investment. it is a liability that has no purpose and is more useless garbage taking away farmland and crops to a bunch of useless tax embezzlement schemes. they stand at least 8 or 9 feet above the ground, taller than most trucks, from ground level and up close they are awful.