Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

To the editor:

Re: your article “Split council approves Holland solar project” (July 25), Suffolk’s farmers have relied heavily on peanuts and cotton as cash crops for decades. Maybe it’s time to consider other sources for revenue.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued guidance in the form of a report: “Solar energy use in U.S. Agriculture.” The report outlines how vegetables, raising bees, and sheep can co-exist on a solar farm.

It might be a good time to direct your attention 30 miles south toward Elizabeth City. Just outside the city is the largest wind farm east of the Mississippi River. One hundred massive turbines have been operating for several years, all on land that is being farmed. It is the largest tax payer in the county, and the only folks disappointed are those farmers who did not get any turbines erected on their property. The sites are leased, and each tower erected equates to $5,000 per year for the farmer.

Keep an open mind; all new technology is not harmful.

Earle Mitchell

Springfield