SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) — The University of Missouri and the Missouri Farm Bureau will collaborate to examine energy production in the state.
The Missouri Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture committed funding to the University of Missouri’s Center for Rural Energy Security. This first-of-its-kind center will focus on the impact of energy policies in rural Missouri.
“My grandma always said don’t put your eggs in one basket, and that is exactly what has been happening the last four years,” said Garrett Hawkins, the President of Missouri Farm Bureau. “So we are going to get back to doing what we do best, which is producing energy from all sources. So, we can take a look at this intersection of energy policy and property rights and how rural communities, farmers, and landowners are being impacted as we see this tremendous shift in power generation and transmission.”
The Missouri Farm Bureau says the center will examine the effects of energy policies on agriculture, rural communities, and property rights, including where energy produced by renewable resources is going. The center will also examine the economic impacts of energy production, examining large-scale wind and solar farms. The research will bring solar farms’ data regarding impacts to the same level as wind farms.
From tax revenues to the financial benefits of the property owners and the returns over current crop production.
“And truly, we are also in the crosshairs of new energy development, particularly from a transmission standpoint,” said Hawkins. “We should start the conversation that farmers and landowners have been asked for decades to house this infrastructure, and they will continue to house new infrastructure for the remainder of their lives, as well as their kids. So, let’s start the conversation with recognizing there is a burden on the people that I represent in order to provide energy security for this county.”
The center will look at the economic impacts of energy production and large-scale wind and solar farms.
“Were these installations are and where the energy is actually consumed is not very close together, which brings up the issue of transmission that a lot of people don’t like talking about,” says Micheal Sykuta, Ph.D., Director, Center for Rural Energy Security and Associate Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Missouri.
The research will raise solar farms’ impact data to the same level as wind.
“Start to get a handle on what are the actual effects in the last twenty years of these things, so when we start to have those conversations about what the potential benefits and costs are,” said Sykuta.
From tax revenues to the financial benefits of the property owners and the returns over current crop production.
“So there is a large potential revenue source for some farmers in certain parts of the state,” said Sykuta.
The Center for Rural Energy Security is expected to begin work this spring. The center expects it to be a neutral source for the data.
“We are not in the business of following any particular agenda on supporting one side or another on any particular installation or any particular technology, or any particular policy even,” said Sykuta.
The Center for Rural Energy Security is expected to begin work this spring.
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