OFA opposes the use of specialty crop and prime agricultural areas to site industrial-scale energy generation and storage facilities. OFA supports the use of Agricultural Impact Assessments (AIAs) as a means of protecting our finite supply of arable farmland from unnecessary depletion by large-scale energy and storage projects. AIAs help communities and residents make informed decisions as to the appropriateness of hosting large-scale energy generation and storage facilities within their communities.
OFA supports opportunities for farm businesses to participate in energy and fuel generation as on-farm diversification of the farming operation. This includes the use of anaerobic digesters on livestock farms to produce biogas, and the use of excess crop biomass in combined heat and power units to produce CO2 and electricity for greenhouse operations.
OFA’s Industrial Wind Turbine Policy includes 15 recommendations related to the siting of energy infrastructure.