WHEN A FARM IS NOT A FARM

Solar power creates Fresno County land use controversy
Gene Haagenson, October 26, 2011 (KSFN Fresno/ABC)

The same sunshine that makes [California Central] Valley crops grow make the region ripe for solar power and attractive to solar power companies…30 solar projects are being planned…[O]ver five billion dollars [are] in the pipeline for solar projects…and the Board of Supervisors is concerned about the possible impact of putting these on farmland.

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…[M]uch of the land these solar farms will be built on is farmland, and much of that gets property tax breaks under the Williamson Act which is designed to protect farmland from development…[Some say] solar is industrial…not agricultural…[They say] it's insulting to farmers and farmworkers to suggest [it is agricultural]…

Some of the solar companies want to keep that tax break…[and say] they are industrial agricultural projects, like a dairy or turkey farm…[and should remain protected by] the Williamson Act…

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The Director of the Fresno County Farm Bureau, Ryan Jacobson urged the [Board of Supervisors] to protect farmland, and said solar development should be to limited to land no longer suitable for farming…The Board put off deciding the issue and agreed to form a working group to figure out how to control the growth of Solar Farms.