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Farmer's New Crop

A windy day in the Midwest can be a lucrative one for farmers – if they’re among those who have added windmills to their list of crops.

Wind power – a clean and renewable source of energy – has been gaining popularity among farmers, not only as an additional source of revenue but as a method of providing power to run their own farming operations. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, wind power is one of the fastest growing energy sources in the world.

Planting turbines can be done on just half an acre of land, so farmers can grow their crops right up to the edge of these machines. Or, they can allow developers to use the land for this purpose and collect royalties on them. Some are even becoming wind developers themselves and selling their home-grown power to others.

Wind power is clean and natural, and the cost to produce it has dropped by nearly 90% over the past two decades.

In recent years, farm-based wind power sources received a boost from a federal program known as the Farm Bill Renewable Energy grant program, which provided more than $60 million over three years for more than 400 wind, solar, biomass, biofuel and energy efficiency projects across the country. But President Bush has said he plans to cut the program by more than 50%.

That may take the wind out of some projects, but with small wind generators able to produce as much as 40 kilowatts of energy apiece and the demand for clean energy continuing to grow, wind power is likely to remain a viable alternative power source in this country.

The pressure to find alternative sources of energy has increased in recent years as concerns about global warming and about American dependence on foreign oil have grown.

For more information on wind power, click here.

To read more about this and other environmental health issues, go to: www.environmentalhealthnews.org, www.ourstolenfuture.org, or www.healthandenvironment.org