{"id":9657,"date":"2024-06-18T15:09:38","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T14:09:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/?post_type=resource&#038;p=9657"},"modified":"2024-07-02T09:49:39","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T08:49:39","slug":"factsheet-solar-farms-and-agricultural-land","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/resource\/factsheet-solar-farms-and-agricultural-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Factsheet: Solar Farms and Agricultural Land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"acf-block-spacer-block_0cad876b4730c913cfb050c1fee200af\" class=\"c-pt-4\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This document sets out the considerations that should be given to assessing the impact of solar farms on agricultural land, both in policy and practical terms, emphasising the importance of considering factors such as food security, biodiversity, and soil health.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Intended to be a useful aid for Local Planning Authorities in their decision making, the document discusses the relationship between solar energy development and agricultural land use policies, highlighting the need to balance renewable energy goals with the preservation of Best and Most Versatile Agricultural Land (BMVAL).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SEUK would like to thank Dr Jonathan Scurlock, Chief Adviser, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, National Farmers&#8217; Union of England and Wales (NFU), for help in drafting this factsheet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/FactSheet-Solar-Farms-and-Agricultural-Land-2024.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1358\" height=\"1920\" src=\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Factsheet-Solar-Farms-and-Agricultural-Land-2024-Final.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9769\" style=\"width:452px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Factsheet-Solar-Farms-and-Agricultural-Land-2024-Final.jpg 1358w, https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Factsheet-Solar-Farms-and-Agricultural-Land-2024-Final-1086x1536.jpg 1086w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1358px) 100vw, 1358px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf-block-spacer-block_0cad876b4730c913cfb050c1fee200af\" class=\"c-pt-4\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n            \n    <div class=\"crunch-button-wrapper\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/FactSheet-Solar-Farms-and-Agricultural-Land-2024.pdf\" id=\"crunch-button-block_aed2da48b8f1bad4600f37cc82bbeac0\" class=\"crunch-button crunch-button__full-background crunch-button__full-background--primary-color crunch-button__full-background--small\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Download FactSheet<\/a>\n    <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf-block-spacer-block_0cad876b4730c913cfb050c1fee200af\" class=\"c-pt-4\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"acf-block-spacer-block_0cad876b4730c913cfb050c1fee200af\" class=\"c-pt-4\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":9669,"template":"","resources_type":[296],"custom_tag":[],"class_list":["post-9657","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resources_type-factsheets"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.5 (Yoast SEO v24.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Factsheet: Solar Farms and Agricultural Land &#8226; Solar Energy UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Solar Habitat 2024: Ecological Trends on Solar Farms in the UK. The inaugural Solar Habitat report, published in May 2023, marked a pivotal moment in our journey. It shed light on ecological trends across 37 meticulously monitored sites in 2022. Building upon this foundation, our latest report continues this crucial work, collating data from 87 sites surveyed throughout 2023\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/resource\/factsheet-solar-farms-and-agricultural-land\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Factsheet: Solar Farms and Agricultural Land\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This document sets out the considerations that should be given to assessing the impact of solar farms on agricultural land, both in policy and practical\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/resource\/factsheet-solar-farms-and-agricultural-land\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Solar Energy UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-02T08:49:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/FactSheet-Solar-Farms-and-Agricultural-Land-2024-Final-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1357\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/FactSheet-Solar-Farms-and-Agricultural-Land-2024-Final-1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solarenergyUK_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/resource\/factsheet-solar-farms-and-agricultural-land\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/resource\/factsheet-solar-farms-and-agricultural-land\/\",\"name\":\"Factsheet: Solar Farms and Agricultural Land &#8226; Solar Energy UK\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/resource\/factsheet-solar-farms-and-agricultural-land\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/resource\/factsheet-solar-farms-and-agricultural-land\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/solarenergyuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/FactSheet-Solar-Farms-and-Agricultural-Land-2024-Final-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-06-18T14:09:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-02T08:49:39+00:00\",\"description\":\"Solar Habitat 2024: Ecological Trends on Solar Farms in the UK. 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