UK Losing Farmland to Corporatist Solar Outfits and Folks Are Noticing THOMAS J SHEPSTONE

The sole intent in the case of solar and wind boondoggles is to milk the ratepayer and/or taxpayer for as much money as possible, rather than earning it the old-fashioned way.

UK Losing Farmland to Corporatist Solar Outfits and Folks Are Noticing

THOMAS J SHEPSTONE

JUN 4

READ IN APP

The UK, from a political correctness pepective, is about 5-10 years ahead of the U.S. and offers a glimpse of what we can expect down the road if things don't change. The UK experience with solar energy demonstrates exactly what's going on and what's wrong. It can be summed up in the word "corporatism,” which is private equity forms sucking off the government teat instead of doing capitalism. Some call it “crony capitalism” but there's nothing capitalistic about it. The sole intent in the case of solar and wind boondoggles is to milk the ratepayer and/or taxpayer for as much money as possible, rather than earning it the old-fashioned way.

Subscribed

A recent article in the Daily Mail, illustrates and here are some excerpts showing what I mean, the especially relevant portions being bolded. Loss of farmland is the focus but take note of why and how it's happening:

The former head of Britain's farming union yesterday spoke out against large-scale solar farms, declaring 'there's a huge amount not to like'.

But Minette Batters warned they will continue to be built while her members faced uncertainty about the future of dairy and arable farming - and while wealthy investors are free to buy up large chunks of the countryside…

Ms Batters was speaking during a debate at the Hay Literary Festival on Tuesday, in response to a question from an audience member horrified about the proliferation of giant solar farms covering several square miles of land.

She said she could understand opposition to solar farms - but also had sympathy for farmers cashing in on such projects because they provide a guaranteed, index-linked income for decades.

'You can understand at the moment, from a farmer's perspective... £1,200 a hectare (per year), index-linked, locked in for 20 years, what's not to like?' she said.

'For everybody else, there's a huge amount not to like. This is the trouble with a solar farm. There will be one beneficiary.'

But Ms Batters said that in some cases, farmers themselves have been forced to leave their farms to make way for solar farms if they are tenants of larger landowners.

Ms Batters criticised how land ownership by wealthy investors including private equity firms is being allowed to proliferate - and called for action.

'Now, private equity has moved into land. The country is up for sale…

There are now nearly 500 solar farms around the UK. The current largest, Shotwick Park, in Flintshire, North Wales, covers 250 acres.

But it would be dwarfed if the Botley West solar farm - planned for three sites in Oxfordshire totalling 2,471-acres, or nearly four square miles, on land owned by Blenheim Palace - is given planning consent.

Another 2,500 acre solar farm is proposed on the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border.

Ms Batters' concern about land ownership was echoed by economist Dieter Helm, who was on the same panel.

He said: 'The question of land ownership is really serious. You are going to have 500 people owning quite a lot of Scotland. The fact a lot of them are out of the UK is really quite serious.

'(As a country) we live beyond our means, we do not save. We've sold off most of the family silver and live beyond our means. We are in the middle of another sell-off of British industry.'

The UK, in other words, is losing its farmland to corporatist foreign hedge-funders; the same folks coming to America these days. They are prowling the world looking for the corporate welfare we covered here. They are among the globalist elites looking to ride to riches on the backs of the common man. They want the land, too, and don't forget it. That's why carry on about nitrogen fertilizer and cow farts. It's all about centralizing power through a merger of business and government; an abandonment of capitalism for corporatism and tyranny and if the food supply is endangered that's just a feature, not a bug.

#UK #Scotland #SolarFarms #Elites #Corporatism #Capitalism