Isaac Orr, Congressman Tom Tiffany introduce bill repealing wind and solar subsidies on farmland

This morning, Congressman Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District asked me to help him introduce new legislation known as the Future Agriculture Retention and Management Act of 2022, or FARM Act. If enacted, this new legislation would prohibit the use of federal taxpayer subsidies for wind and solar installations on American farmland.

This legislation would benefit our country because federal subsidies are currently distorting our land-use decisions by subsidizing wind and solar projects that may not be the highest value for our farmland. It’s important to note that nothing in this legislation would prohibit wind or solar developments in the U.S.. It would simply make them compete on a level playing field with our food producers.

The biggest problem with subsidies is that they incentivize rational people to do irrational things. Wind and solar subsidies in Wisconsin would take prime agriculture land out of use to prop up sources of electricity generation that only work 27.7 and 16 percent of the time in America’s Dairyland, respectively.

Considering that both Congressman Tiffany and I grew up on dairy farms in Wisconsin, it’s not surprising that we both feel that farmers should be able to compete with wind and solar projects on a level playing field and not one where the deck is stacked against them.