Growing Solar Instead of Food -- The Problem Spreads

The Wichita Eagle had a fascinating and well-reported story from central Kansas Sunday on the topic of solar panels being installed near Cheyenne Bottoms (CB), an area which, from an environmental perspective, is highly sensitive. CB is a swampy area on the "Central States Flyway" -- which is probably the most important bird migration path in North America. 

There is a proposal to put a large solar array very close to the southeast edge of CB. This raises a large number of environmental questions. For example, there are birds which cannot take off unless they are in water? Will they be deceived by the panels, which may appear to be water, land, and die? 

That said, there is an aspect of the story that was omitted that I believe is extremely important: Why are we taking more prime agricultural land out of production for solar panels? Yes, the owners have property rights. Yes, solar panels pay more than food farming. But, at what cost?

• The contract from the solar company is lucrative, but for how long? If the overuse of solar and wind stops, then some of these contracts will not be renewed. I've seen these "solar farms" closeup and I fear they will be left to rot in that eventuality as the decommissioning cost will be high. Will the land be out of service forever?
• The U.S. no longer feeds itself. This is a topic I've mentioned on a number of occasions but few others seem to be covering it. Can we afford to continue to take good farmland out of the business of producing food. 

Take a look at the graph below (story here). 

The black line is whether we can feed ourselves (above the zero line) or not (below). We crossed that line last year (there is other evidence besides this graph) and the news gets worse in the future. If we cannot feed ourselves, it has terrible implications for food security and for the federal deficit. 

The biggest problem is that I fear any solution imposed by government will only make the problem worse -- as government solutions usually do. The problem might fix itself if we stop the solar subsidies -- which were first imposed during the Carter Administration because solar was/is a "developing" technology. It isn't. 

Solar and wind energy should stand on their own. As Warren Buffett -- hardly a conservative -- says,

Regardless of what the solution may be, one will not arise unless people both in and out of agriculture are aware of the issue. Time to start talking. It is another good question to ask the politicians asking for your vote!

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