Missouri Farm Bureau president Garrett Hawkins is receiving criticism after he released a statement applauding USDA secretary Brooke Rollins for a decision to reduce rural solar funding availability through the Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP.
In the statement, Hawkins claimed REAP funding unfairly promoted solar energy developments, reducing the availability of productive farmland. That makes it more difficult for young farmers to enter the industry, he said, putting a burden on the next generation of producers.
“We support numerous energy sources and landowners’ rights to use their land how they wish,” the statement reads. “However, we oppose subsidies that unduly skew the energy market and result in the loss of productive farmland and disadvantage rural communities.”
James Owen, executive director at energy-focused nonprofit Renew Missouri, is critical of the Farm Bureau’s statement. He said the program as Hawkins description is an inaccurate reflection of what REAP does for rural communities, and over-reports the scale of projects that the program is designed to support.
“This is a small-scale solar grant that's designed to help reduce utility costs and create energy independence,” Owen said. “The idea that somehow the Trump administration reducing this program is going to save cropland and save agriculture, it’s quite the opposite. It’s going to hurt farming, it’s going to hurt independent farmers.”
For beginner farmers, the barriers to land access are complex.
Erin Foster West, a policy campaign director for National Young Farmers Coalition, said development is one of many factors, citing issues such ans urban sprawl. The space demands of renewable energy can create a conflict with farmers and ranchers, she said, but she doesn’t see how cutting REAP funding can fix those problems.
West pointed to other factors keeping young farmers off of productive land — issues she says should be getting more attention — like established farmers buying up smaller parcels of land to grow their operations. She also said climate change is making some farmland unusable, through flooding and soil degradation.
“We need to be looking at more holistic approaches to how we deal with land access,” she said. “These one-off solutions, getting rid of programs that could support a farmer to integrate solar panels with their farm, are really not looking at the picture holistically.”
REAP, a component of the Inflation Reduction Act, is intended to help rural communities implement energy-efficiency measures as a means of reducing utility costs and promoting energy independence. Those projects, West said, can be a vital source of extra income when farmers face a difficult season.
“That might be the income that keeps them going through a drought or a flood, or maybe a health issue where they need to take some time off of farming,” she said. “Those additional income streams can be especially important for someone who is just starting an operation. They’re brand new, and they might not be resilient enough to weather a major setback early in their farming career.”
Owen said the federal government is “picking winners and losers” in the energy race, and that the Farm Bureau’s statement is “more ideological and political” than it is a show of concern for the best interests of rural Missourians.
“I come from a farming background,” Owen said. “I know that the margins are really slim. You need to be able to cut your costs wherever you can, and for an organization like this to trump up something that’s going to make it harder for farmers to make a living, it just boggles the mind.”
Hawkins and the Missouri Farm Bureau declined a taped interview for this story.