According to a major report by CPRE, 59% of England’s largest solar farms are on once-productive farmland, while a third of the area they cover is classified as “best and most versatile” (BMV) agricultural land, ideal for growing crops.
Sleaford and North Hykeham is singled out in the CPRE report as being particularly impacted by a cluster of mega solar farm applications, despite our productive Lincolnshire farmland.
Given Lincolnshire’s role in producing 12% of the UK’s food, and with a wheat harvest 25% above the UK average in the past 5 years, it is clear that this is the land that we can least afford to lose.
There is a human impact to all of this, including for tenant farmers who are facing the prospect of eviction and severe financial hardship because the land they have farmed for generations has been included in applications by landowners.
