Farmers in the south west are seeing a different type of rambler recently. City types who are looking for land and roofs rent so they can install fields of solar pv panels and benefit from the governments lucrative feed in tariffs. The average barn roof could generate an income of £20,000 p.a.
Excerpt from a Times article below:
“The county is swarming with people in suits and shiny shoes looking for a few acres to shove a solar panel in,” says Stephen Frankel of Carhart Mill near Wadebridge in Cornwall.
It’s potentially great news for farmers who saw income drop nearly 7pc last year as commodity prices fell. Tom Hind, head of economics at the National Farmers Union (NFU), says that although farmers saw a pick up in income in 2007 and 2008 after a decade of falling trade, many farmers are “treading a fine line” in terms of survival. Many are reliant on money from the EU to turn a profit.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/7945714/Renewable-energy-is-the-cash-crop-of-the-future-for-British-farmers.html
