By Nicholas Earl
The UK’s largest agricultural body has defended the farming sector’s support of solar panels, despite criticism from both Tory leadership contenders.
Tom Bradshaw, deputy president of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), told City A.M. that solar panels on agricultural land can help boost the country’s net zero ambitions and provide farmers with a valuable revenue stream.
He said: “Renewable energy production is a core part of the NFU’s net zero plan and solar projects often offer a good diversification option for farmers.”
This follows Foreign Secretary and Downing Street frontrunner Liz Truss labelling solar panels on farmland as “paraphernalia” that could threaten food security.
Speaking at a hustings event earlier this month, she said: “I’m somebody who wants to see farmers producing food, not filling in forms, not doing red tape, not filling fields with paraphernalia like solar farms. What we want is crops, and we want livestock.”
Meanwhile, leadership rival and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak has called for the “best agricultural land” to be protected from housing, large-scale solar farms and rewilding.
He has also revealed he is in favour of “rooftop solar” and wants to reform licensing regimes on the technology to help meet the country’s energy needs.
The Government has pledged to significantly ramp up solar power generation as part of its energy security strategy, unveiled in April, targeting expansion from 14GW to 70GW by 2035.
Downing Street is eager to boost domestic energy generation to reduce its reliance on overseas suppliers to meet its energy needs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This includes both solar farms and rooftop developments, alongside installations by farmers and other private businesses.
Solar power utilises photovoltaic panels to absorb sunlight, creating electrical charges which are then channelled for energy usage.
Installations in the renewable technology have boomed this year, with 106MW of panels being set up on UK rooftops in the first half of 2022, the same amount for the entirety of 2021.
The latest calculations on land use suggest solar panels cover less than 0.1 per cent of the country – by contrast, golf courses alone cover two per cent.
Even if every project currently in development met fruition, only 0.28 per cent of land would feature solar panels.
In the UK, agricultural land is segmented into categories based on what is considered ‘best and most versatile’.
Currently, solar farms can only be built on land that is deemed moderate quality or below, meaning its role on food production is limited.
The UK produces around 74 per cent of the food it consumes, although there is concern over how much certain ingredients are imported – with only 15 per cent of tomatoes and 23 per cent of cucumbers consumed domestically grown in this country.
Bradshaw argued there was a need to strike a balance between food security and climate ambitions.
He concluded: “It’s important that large scale solar farm development is located on lower quality agricultural land, avoiding the most productive and versatile soils. Utilising roofs and farm buildings for solar should also be incentivised as it delivers a sustainable method of energy production while avoiding any land use conflict.”
The NFU is home to around 90,000 members across the agricultural sector, and has over 300 branch offices nationwide.
Think tanks respond to politicians’ proposals
Industry association Solar Energy UK rubbished claims that solar farms threatened food security, suggesting “the opposite was true.”
This is because climate change threatened to affect yields of necessary produce, and that through boosting solar panels, the UK could reduce its reliance on high-emission energy sources.
A spokesperson said: “One of the biggest risks to food security is our changing climate. This is clear from recent reports on how this year’s drought is literally shrinking the potato crop. Solar farms address climate change and so help prevent this, and are frequently used to graze livestock at the same time.”
Solar Energy UK further highlighted that solar farms can provide farmers with a stable revenue stream, which can help to keep farming profitable, and reiterated its support for rooftop solar, alongside mounted panels.
Meanwhile, environmental think tanks also raised concerns over the latest criticisms of solar power installations.
Harriet Lamb, chief executive of climate charity Ashden, argued that renewables are “the cheapest and the fastest way to increase power while moving away from imports of the volatile oil and gas markets.”
She said: “What blinkers are preventing the two contenders for future leadership of the conservative party from seeing the full potential of the energy sources of the future – renewables?”
Dustin Benton, policy director at Green Alliance, noted that solar panels remain popular with voters, and that an ‘either or’ situation with farmland could be avoided.
Surveys from YouGov last month suggested 73 per cent of Conservative Party members supported solar power – including mounted panels.
He said: “Polls show that the public are hugely supportive of building more solar farms in their communities because it’s cheap, clean, and cuts our reliance on Russian gas. It’s also possible to grow food in fields with solar panels, so we don’t have to trade food production against homegrown energy.”
Separately, Andy Mayer, energy analyst at free-market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs warned the Government against central planning for land use and urged them not to get in the way with obstructive measures.
He said: “Britain’s food and energy security both depend on using our own resources productively, and trading with others. Government can support both by removing barriers to development and trade, not getting in the way, nor subsidising choices. That means cheaper better food, and affordable secure supply.”
Commenting on solar projects, he noted that livestock and solar panels can “happily coexist,” and improve the viability of farmland.
He also warned against obstructionism and NIBMY behaviour from people opposing new developments.
Mayer argued: “If farmers wish to advance such plans, provided they don’t want special treatment, they should be allowed to try, and permitting streamlined to help it happen more quickly. Both leadership candidates, by making a fetish of the Green Belt and hysterical opposition to local development, are likely to make the cost-of-living crisis worse.”
The Conservative leadership is race is set to conclude next month, with the winner declared on 5 September following an extensive hustings period.
Truss is widely expectedly to be named winner, and subsequently Prime Minister – the second woman to ever hold the office.
The contest is being held amid an escalating cost of living crisis, with some forecasters predicting household energy bills could climb over £5,000 per year in Spring 2023.
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