Small sheep breeds solution to solar land use
Considering smaller sheep breeds could be the key to avoiding a change of use when planning a solar farm, delegates at the NFU Conference were told.
Farmers planning to put solar pv on agricultural land are often forced to register the land as being for industrial use rather than farmland due to scepticism over whether the land can still be grazed, said Tim Croker from the NFU Farm Energy Service, speaking at the NFU Conference 2013.
Frequently, project planners say they would be able to put sheep on the land to keep it classed as agricultural land but after the project is built, do not use it for farming.
Part of the reason for this is simply that gaps between and under solar panels are too small for many breeds of sheep to graze, which is where smaller breeds like Hebridean can come in useful, added Mr Croker.
Full NFU Conference 2013 report