Thursday, November 17, 2011

Agriculture Industry and Solar Developers Battle In California’s San Joaquin Valley

During the last part of the 19th century cattle ranchers and farmers battled for supremacy in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Farmers won the battle, and farming has been entrenched in the Valley’s fertile soil ever since. Today another battle is being waged, and this time it is between farmers and those who want to develop solar power. The San Joaquin Valley is considered by many to be the agricultural center of the world. It is also an area where the sun shines most days of the year, and has a high unemployment rate. Fresno County, one of the highest agricultural producing counties in the country, is battle central. Fresno County Board of Supervisors put a proposed 20-acre solar plant on hold earlier this month. The Board put the project on hold just a day after the California Farm Bureau Federation announced it was suing the county over a conservation contract (under the Williamson Act) the Board canceled in August for 90 acres near Coalinga, located in southwestern Fresno County, for a proposed solar project...more

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