Representative image of a farmer earning a steady income from wind turbines on his corn and soybean farm. Image Credits: ChatGPT.
In 2016, an Iowa farmer found another source of income on his farmland: wind turbines. For farmers whose earnings depend heavily on the price of corn and soybeans, a poor harvest is not the only financial risk. Even when crops perform well, falling commodity prices can leave little room between the cost of production and what the harvest brings in.
The 2016 story reflected a broader trend across parts of the American Midwest: land could generate value not only from crops, but also from wind leases. For Hemphill, the reported $20,000 annual payment therefore represented a relatively predictable addition to farm income at a time when crop revenue was much less certain. Against that backdrop, a wind lease worked differently from a crop sale. The farmer did not have to harvest an additional crop from the land occupied by the turbine. Instead, the energy company paid for the right to use the site for wind-energy infrastructure. The amount a farmer receives depends on the contract and the number and capacity of turbines involved. A US Government Accountability Office review found that wind-farm lease payments varied considerably between projects and could reach tens of thousands of dollars a year for individual farmers. For a farmer like Hemphill, the benefit was even more direct. His profit from corn and soybeans might fluctuate with market forces, but his wind lease was guaranteed. The turbines were not a replacement for farming, but another business activity on the same agricultural land.
In 2016, Iowa’s farmers had to face a period characterised by low commodity prices. Hemphill said corn had once sold for about $7 a bushel, while his production costs were about $4.20 a bushel. The timing of Hemphill’s wind income was important. The Omaha World-Herald stated that the cost of growing corn might be quite high compared to the market price, which would put some pressure on the farmers who mainly relied on their crops to earn an income.