Olive Trees vs Solar Panels: Going Green Means No More Greens?

The insanity of the "Green Agenda"! In order to meet their "green" goals, they're destroying a food source and a means of carbon sequestration.

From The European Conservative

By Javier Villamor

As many as 100,000 olive trees could be uprooted to fulfill green transition goals.

The Andalusian government has expropriated several hectares of agricultural and livestock land for solar panels. Rafael Navas Ferrer, president of the Agricultural Association of Young Farmers (ASAJA) in Cordoba, Spain, pointed out the risks of such policies for agriculture in a conversation with europeanconservative.com. Navas Ferrer argued,

Agricultural land has a productive value that should not be lost. Using agricultural land for solar projects can be counterproductive if the impact on productivity is not properly assessed.

According to Navas Ferrer, the transition to renewable energies should not occur at the cost of destroying agricultural sectors fundamental to the Spanish economy. In his opinion, a balance between renewable energies and agriculture is needed, especially in regions such as Andalusia, where olive oil production is a key pillar of the economy.

With almost 3,000 hours of sunshine annually, the Andalusian region has become the center of Spain’s energy transition. The massive installation of solar plants is presented as a solution to achieving sustainability goals, especially in the framework of the 2030 Agenda and the European Union’s climate commitments. However, this process has triggered an intense conflict with olive farmers in key producing areas, such as the countryside of Jaén.

In Lopera, a town of just 3,600 inhabitants, plans to install eight solar plants threaten to wipe out up to 1,000 hectares of farmland. According to the La Loperana cooperative, this loss of land could mean a reduction of as much as 2.2 million euros in annual income and almost a million euros in daily wages. Concern is widespread, as many of these olive groves have been passed down through generations, and farmers are now forced to give up this ancestral land.

The solar projects have been justified by the Andalusian regional government as being in the “public interest.” However, Navas Ferrer notes, these policies must consider the viability of the affected sectors: “If they are not properly managed, we could face limitations in the country’s productive capacity. It is essential that policies are made responsibly and not simply to meet environmental objectives without considering the economic and social consequences,” he warns. For him, the energy transition model must be inclusive and not destroy what already exists to create something new that is not sustainable in the long term. “Politicians are disconnected from reality,” he says. 

The regional councilor for industry, Jorge Paradela, has tried to play down the situation, claiming that less than 1% of the area affected by renewables has required expropriation. But the figures on the ground tell a different story: thousands of olive trees have already been uprooted and productive land transformed into solar plants.

Regarding the energy crisis, Navas Ferrer points out the importance of not falling for simplistic solutions: “The energy crisis is an issue that affects everyone, but the solutions must be realistic and must balance the interests of all sectors involved. We cannot allow the energy transition to be made at the cost of destroying the productive sectors that have been the basis of our economy,” he stresses. 

Around 50% of the electricity generated in Spain in 2023 came from renewable sources, of which 17% was solar. While solar projects have been a significant step forward in clean energy generation, skepticism persists in places like Lopera. Farmers fear that, far from being a solution for rural areas, these solar projects could wipe out the foundations of their economy and farming culture.