Renewable energy can keep people on land

Canberra Times
Tuesday 15/7/2008 Page: 2

Farmers considering selling up and leaving the land are being encouraged to turn to renewable energy instead. Greens senator Christine Milne said yesterday she was not surprised by reports that only 411 had applied for $150,000 exit grants, and just 32 of those had been processed and paid as of late last month.

"Farming for most people is a real connection with the property that they live on, the lifestyle, the biodiversity, just the identification with the land. It's a really strong thing, and people don't just walk off their properties unless they absolutely have no choice in the end," she said. The Government should encourage farmers to stay on their land and get an income from farming renewable energy instead.

"The Government would need to take the transmission lines out to where those remote areas, where these large-scale renewable energy farms are, and that would be the community's contribution to making it happen," she told ABC Radio. "Once you've done that, you'd have these farmers being able to significantly reduce their stocking rates or whatever else they're doing on their land, in combination with renewable energy and watch the cheques roll in.

"So it's an ideal solution. It helps us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, it helps its build largescale renewables and it keeps rural communities viable." National Farmers Federation chief executive officer Ben Fargher said this could be part of the solution, and he wanted farmers to get "the tools to adapt to changing climate and build on the work they've already done, in terms of new technology and new genetics and new systems and diversification.