(The Center Square) – One of Wisconsin’s Republican congressmen says he wants to save farmland in the state for agriculture, not solar farms.
Northwoods Congressman Tom Tiffany recently reintroduced the Farm Act.
“Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be used to sacrifice farmland for green energy boondoggles,” Tiffany said.
Tiffany said the Future Agriculture Retention and Management Act would “end taxpayer-funded energy incentives that distort the market” by encouraging wind and solar farms to be built on what has always been agricultural lands.
Tiffany said the more wind and solar farms Wisconsin has the fewer family farms the state has.
“The Farm Act ends corporate welfare for unreliable energy sources and ensures agricultural land is protected for future generations,” Tiffany said.
Tiffany is pointing to a report from the USDA that says America lost 20 million acres of land between 2017 and 2022, and all but five states lost farms. That includes Wisconsin.
Tiffany said his plan does not stop or ban anyone from building new wind or solar farms, but he does say it “prevent[s] taxpayer funds from tipping the scales in favor of wind and solar development at the expense of food production.”
“We can’t afford to keep sacrificing farmland for unreliable energy sources,” Tiffany added.
Tiffany said turning off the federal subsidies to add wind and solar farms on farmland could save taxpayers as much $424 billion over the next decade.
Tiffany is not alone in pushing the Farm Act. He is joined by Congressman Ben Cline from Virginia, Warren Davidson from Ohio, and Roger Williams from Texas.
