Wind Turbines are the newest and best Cash Crop for Midwest/Plains states farmers and ranchers. It doesn't just lower the cost of power per KWH, but generates income for those farmers, counties, states, and Federal income taxes.
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""...2024 is not expected to be a good year for farms, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasting a 25% downturn in profits.
But some farmers in Iowa have planted something new in the ground to offset their losses: wind turbines.
Evie Haupt, 75, has Three of them working the land year-round on her 160-acre farm in Central Iowa. She says the turbines bring in about $35,000 per year, which Increases Each year with Inflation.
For struggling farmers, that's made the difference between keeping the family farm and losing it as agriculture becomes more unstable due to climate change. Each turbine takes up Less than an Acre, leaving plenty of farmable land left.
Haupt says the money generated by the wind turbines has helped her chip away at $350,000 in farm debts left over after the death of her husband a decade ago, bringing down the total debt to $67,000.
Two decades ago, there were just a few hundred wind turbines in Iowa. Now there are more than 6,000 that produce about 60% of the state's energy, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
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