In 2003, 90 wind turbines went up across California farmland; crops and cattle stayed, while farmers continued using most of the land

In the winter of 2003, a wheat field in Northern California carried on much as before: sheep grazed the land, barley crop grew, and nearby, 90 new wind turbines turned quietly, each generating income for the farmer who owned the land beneath them. This is the setup in Montezuma Hills, located 40 miles to the northeast of San Francisco, California, where FPL Energy began operating the High Winds Energy Center, a 162 MW wind-power plant capable of providing electricity for 75,000 homes.

According to a 2004 GAO report, which highlighted several wind-power related expenditures and tax expenditures in the United States of America, farmers who lease their land to wind turbine developers may expect to make up to $2,000 and $5,000 per turbine annually, on average, as a decent and steady income stream from the land, which may be used for the same purpose as before the wind turbine was built.

The land did not become lost


Surprisingly, not a single acre of farmland was lost due to the wind turbines built on it, as farmer Ian Anderson explained to the NBC News reporters, who shared the story shortly after the High Winds facility had opened. Anderson estimated that wind turbines and their associated roads took up approximately 2 percent of his land, leaving 98 percent for farming sheep. In turn, wheat, barley, and safflower crops may continue to be produced in the area.

This is definitely not an isolated case, as the USDA Economic Research Service in a 2024 article titled “Agricultural Land Near Solar and Wind Projects Usually Remained in Agriculture After Development,” found that over 90 percent of large-scale wind turbines built in the United States of America since 2012 were constructed on farmland, with the land surrounding them mostly being farmland. Even when wind turbines and solar power plants are taken together, these two types of installations directly occupy under 0.05 percent of all farmland in America. This small physical footprint means wind development typically leaves the great majority of a property available for continued farm use, even though the turbines and their foundations themselves are long-term, multi-decade installations rather than temporary structures.

Wind-leasing as a side income

This may resonate with readers looking for additional income streams from land they already own. A farmer can lease land to a wind-turbine developer and receive payments without taking on construction or operating responsibilities. Building and owning a turbine oneself is a far larger undertaking by comparison.

As per the GAO report, fewer than 1 percent of wind turbines in the United States are farmer-owned, largely because a wind turbine of significant size requires roughly a million dollars of investment per megawatt of capacity, an amount of liquid net worth, and the associated tax benefits, that few farmers have on hand. Leasing avoids these barriers, since the developer, who has stronger financial motivation, takes on the responsibility of constructing and maintaining the turbine.

It's not a fortune, but it's nothing either

Much like in the case of the High Winds energy center, wind income rarely constitutes a significant share of total income for the farmer owning the land, according to the 2004 report. Even in the ten states that host the most wind power facilities, wind-related income consists of under 1 percent of all farm income in the state on average. Still, for landowners who lease to wind developers, the arrangement offers a steady supplemental income, with GAO's report placing typical lease payments at $2,000 to $5,000 per turbine annually, and noting that farmers with multiple turbines on their land can see payments that add up to considerably more overall.

It all depends on the perspective

Even though this does not refute the known concerns with wind turbines, such as the impact on local ecosystems and the associated challenges with the construction, operation, and decommissioning of these facilities, the mere fact that the opportunity for a wind turbine to be constructed on one’s land even exists has helped thousands of American farmers to enjoy the benefits of an additional, reliable source of income, which in some cases may even constitute a significant share of that income.