Neighbor is exploring leasing for a solar field

[Box-R]

I think there will be more of this in Tx due to the farmers and other land owners looking for ways to generate income.

Exactly.
I can tell you that the price for cows is not covering this year's property tax increase.
A neighbor sold his productive crop land to a developer, now there are 800+ 'affordable' houses going up on that 200 acres.
It's a sad state of affairs, but you have to make the land pay somehow.

[3DW5]

It’s the free market, they are more than within their rights. It’s like someone selling things to people they want to sale to.

[Longue Carabine]

Land/habitat loss is a very real worsening problem with Texas. An unsustainable influx of people moving here, subdividing ranches into "ranchettes", relentless expansion of urban sprawl, new housing developments under construction everywhere, wind farms, solar farms, companies like Martin Marietta buying up land and turning them into quarries for building material, etc is directly at odds to our interests. Standing by and just hoping it stops is stupid. We should organize and and go buy up adjoining contiguous properties in prime habitat areas and lock them down, preventing them from getting into the hands of developers. Those looking to buy land should make their intentions known so existing landowners on here who are management minded can let them know of nearby properties for sale, or a neighbor willing to sell. Likewise other individuals looking to buy in certain areas could coordinate and pool their money to buy a larger property which they could then legally divide after the purchase. We need to be more proactive in defending and taking back land.

[toledo]

Land/habitat loss is a very real worsening problem...........

Sure would be nice if the state would give up some of that license/ permit draw money to purchase more public hunting lands and preserve it for the future. They could easily add 10,000 acres per year but that might cut into someone's budget a little.

[trophy8]

Land/habitat loss is a very real worsening problem with Texas. An unsustainable influx of people moving here, subdividing ranches into "ranchettes", relentless expansion of urban sprawl, new housing developments under construction everywhere, wind farms, solar farms, companies like Martin Marietta buying up land and turning them into quarries for building material, etc is directly at odds to our interests. Standing by and just hoping it stops is stupid. We should organize and and go buy up adjoining contiguous properties in prime habitat areas and lock them down, preventing them from getting into the hands of developers. Those looking to buy land should make their intentions known so existing landowners on here who are management minded can let them know of nearby properties for sale, or a neighbor willing to sell. Likewise other individuals looking to buy in certain areas could coordinate and pool their money to buy a larger property which they could then legally divide after the purchase. We need to be more proactive in defending and taking back land.

Am I mistaken or did you live in another country not long ago? Thought I recall that. Random I know lol


Anyway, you must realize the majority of folks buying land are doing so for an investment. Not to help the animals. It won’t stop. You’d go broke with your plan pretty fast. And then the developers would still get their land LOL

I do know of conservation easements. That helps.

[trophy8]

Big money is right - $80-$150 / acre per year is 10+ times what a grazing lease brings in.

That’s not big money. He could sell the place for $15k an acre or so. Yet you think $22.5k a year is worth “losing” 150 acres? Heck no lol

Now $600 an acre per year? Absolutely.

[kyle1974]

very interesting. so where is this new profitable solar farm that I'm helping to purchase that other people are going to make money off of except me?

~ american taxpayer.

[Mudcatz]

They sent us a offer for 600 acre in Milam county. I looked at it for 5 seconds and threw it in trash.

[golfer47]

I lease 7000 acres in Victoria County. They are doing the permitting now on the property. I hope we don’t loose the lease. We have been on the lease for 20 years. The land is not flat, a lot of rolling hills and creeks. The dozer costs would be very high. Also, I wouldn’t want to live next to a solar farm this large. I told the owner this would destroy the land.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dusty Britches]

Big money is right - $80-$150 / acre per year is 10+ times what a grazing lease brings in.

I pulled that figure from an ad in Livestock Weekly, a very large weekly publication for news impacting southwestern livestock producers.

Grazing - $10/ acre x 150 acres = $1,500 / year
Farming - $35 / acre x 150 acres = $5,250 / year
Solar - $100 / acre x 150 acres = $15,000 / year

These are very real average payments for leases in Milam County. The lease numbers just came out about 3 months ago.

I wished I had known about the Commissioners meeting today. I would have made plans to attend, but I can still contact him. BTW - Waffles, Don Sheffield was forced to resign when he committed a felony by stealing his ex-wife's money from her account. Because she was over 65 it had the elder abuse tacked on.

[Longue Carabine]

Am I mistaken or did you live in another country not long ago? Thought I recall that. Random I know lol


Anyway, you must realize the majority of folks buying land are doing so for an investment. Not to help the animals. It won’t stop. You’d go broke with your plan pretty fast. And then the developers would still get their land LOL

I do know of conservation easements. That helps.

Maybe you are, but every hunter I know is, like me, buying land for hunting. And as you may have inferred from the OP's post, having a development built next door is an unacceptable annoyance. In many cases it is more than annoyance because it actually devalues your land and it its usability. Especially for quality hunting management.

Your assertion that people would "go broke with [my] plan pretty fast. And then the developers would still get their land LOL" has no logical standing. Not only have I put smaller tracts back together, permanently bound adjoining properties, permanently added to blocks of prime deer habitat that can't ever be developed, and increased hunting management quality, but I also made significant money on doing so.

The extra step of organizing and coordinating purchases is the only way hunters are going to prevent having their first or second biggest investment ruined.

[Dusty Britches]

Here's the part that really gets me -

The only way these solar companies can afford this is with government subsidies. So they are taking more and more of our money to subsidize non-efficient businesses and run the free market out of business. There is no way a farmer (or any other private business) can compete against a heavily subsidized business that has nearly unlimited government funds. These subsidies will never stop.

I want my money back.

[camoclad]

They sent us a offer for 600 acre in Milam county. I looked at it for 5 seconds and threw it in trash.

Dang! That's like 9mil over the life of a standard solar contract, not factoring in the annual escalator. Of course, money ain't erry thang

[JFFB]

Solar Farms

There paying land owners here where I live almost $900 and acre.

[camoclad]

Here's the part that really gets me -

The only way these solar companies can afford this is with government subsidies. So they are taking more and more of our money to subsidize non-efficient businesses and run the free market out of business. There is no way a farmer (or any other private business) can compete against a heavily subsidized business that has nearly unlimited government funds. These subsidies will never stop.

I want my money back.

All true. Did you happen to see the recent talk on here about TERP program? Ridiculous. Cap and trade, green new deal, envi-ro-mental justice, etc... all things that will lead to a hard reckoning, i.e. where all the food go? Lol

Anyways, for your current situation. I hope the best, but it's very unlikely to stop a project like this irregardless of how it adversely affects you. I would just say your plan B should include a path to you getting something out of this. Something you need, money, fencing, easement/road improvements, something... good luck. God bless.