Ensuring our food security is not at risk

I WRITE in reply to Caroline Snow’s letter today on solar ‘parks’ in the countryside, as it contains several inaccuracies.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I would first like to reassure our members and supporters in

Devon that the stance of Devon CPRE towards the proliferation of industrial-scale solar installations on Devon’s farmland has not changed at all. We have spent a good part of this year fighting applications for ever larger solar arrays on our farmland, and we will continue to do so. Grass not glass! The success of our ‘Grass not Glass’ campaign page on Crowdfunder shows we have much support.

Mrs Snow’s information appears to be out of date in several respects. Firstly, the current applications for solar installations are now all planned for a period of 40 years, not 25, which I think most people will agree is a very different proposition.

Secondly the claim that the land can continue to be farmed under the panels. There is some evidence that the original small solar arrays, often installed by the farmers themselves, were small enough and spaced widely enough for sheep to graze around.

However, the more recent, much larger installations are more strictly controlled, the panels closely aligned, and surrounded by security fencing and CCTV and many have large battery energy storage systems (BESS) which can be dangerous, and livestock and people must be kept at a distance.

The BBC South West team admitted recently on the Sunday Politics that they could find no photo of sheep among solar panels that was taken more recently than 10 years ago, and we are currently conducting our own investigation to gain an accurate assessment of this claim.

The effective management of wildflower meadows requires the input of livestock so this claim is also called into doubt, the fact that something might be possible does not mean that it actually exists, our investigation mentioned above will also confirm whether or not this is the case.

Finally the question of land classification, Mrs Snow appears to be unaware that this is currently under review, as the so-called lower land classifications are now recognised to be areas of huge environmental benefit and should not be dismissed purely on account of their lower agricultural productivity.

These areas have an invaluable contribution to make towards good soil management, biodiversity and the sequestration of CO2, but they must continue to be farmed in the traditional way if they are to provide these benefits.

There is no point robbing Peter to rob Paul by covering such land with solar panels.

The Ukraine war has highlighted the need for a secure supply of food as well as energy and over the next few years it is vital that the reduction in agricultural output as a result of solar farms being placed on agricultural land is measured and recorded, so that we can make fully-informed decisions in future, and ensure that our food security is not put at risk by an over-emphasis on solar power.

Rebecca Bartleet Chairman, Devon CPRE