Farmers will no longer be able to claim an agricultural subsidy for solar panels on their land. Liz Truss, the environment secretary, said yesterday that she did not want to see farmland “blighted by solar farms”.
The National Farmers’ Union said that the withdrawal of the subsidy, worth £100 an acre, would make no difference to the number of solar farms built. It added that few farmers claimed it and it was minor compared with other subsidies available for solar farms.
Farmers can earn £1,000 an acre each year for 25 years from renting their land to solar developers.
Subsidies, which are funded via consumer bills, remain available for large solar farms despite government efforts to persuade developers to place panels on factory roofs rather