House Republicans are taking a stand against what they deem as 'green energy boondoggles' on agricultural lands by introducing the Future Agriculture Retention and Management (FARM) Act. The legislation, spearheaded by Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, aims to halt the use of taxpayer dollars to incentivize wind and solar development on farmlands.
The FARM Act does not prohibit the construction of wind turbines or solar panels but seeks to eliminate federal funding that supports such projects. Rep. Tiffany emphasized that taxpayer money should not be used to sacrifice valuable farmland for what he considers unreliable energy sources.
According to a Treasury Department analysis, renewable subsidies for clean energy initiatives could amount to $424.6 billion over the next decade. Concerns raised by constituents about the loss of farmland due to the expansion of green energy projects prompted the introduction of the FARM Act.
The bill aims to protect family farms for future generations and address the decline in U.S. farmland, which has decreased by 6.9% since 2017, totaling a loss of 20.1 million acres. Rep. Tiffany and his cosponsors, including Reps. Ben Cline, Warren Davidson, and Roger Williams, are advocating for the preservation of agricultural land and long-term food security.
This legislative move comes in response to the Biden administration's efforts to promote green energy projects using federal funds, such as the Rural Energy for America Program. The program offers grant funding to agricultural producers for wind and solar energy generation, a practice that the FARM Act seeks to curtail.
