Mo-Co Alliance
  • Home
  • About Us
    • What We Do
    • A Brief History
    • Board & AC
    • Staff & Volunteers
    • Contact
    • Buy MCA Gear
  • About Ag Reserve
    • Growing Legacy Film
    • History of the Ag Reserve
    • Benefits of the Ag Reserve
    • Agriculture Education
    • Farm Facts
    • Threats to the Ag Reserve
    • A Place with Purpose
  • News
  • Events
    • Local Events
    • Royce Hanson Award
    • Ride for Reserve
  • Support Local
    • Agricultural Guide
    • Local Food Connection
    • Good Fences Grant
    • Community Supported Agriculture
    • Restaurants & Retail
    • Artists of the Reserve
  • Community Resources
    • Land Link >
      • Labor Link
    • Re-leaf the Reserve
    • PLENTY Magazine
    • Producer's Resources
    • BIPOC Farmer Guide
    • Directory of Local Services
    • Friends of Ten Mile Creek
  • Membership
    • Sponsors and Partners

News

Siting Commercial Scale Solar in the Agricultural Reserve - Your Action to Protect Productive Soils

7/20/2020

 
Picture
The County Council wants to allow commercial scale solar on "less productive" class 3 soils. What can be grown on class 3 soils? How about next generation of MoCo's sustainable table crop producers - if they don't have to compete with commercial scale solar for land. (Pictured here: Farmer Jared moved from MA to found Wildflower Farm on a few leased acres of class 3 soils in Dickerson found through our Land Link program. There are currently 34 more farmers looking for land in the program. Since 2011 we've matched 500 acres of land...and counting)

What's Happening: 
If commercial scale solar is allowed in the County's Ag Reserve on otherwise productive farmland, it will take this land out of commission for current and future table crop producers in the only part of the county set aside for agriculture. Time is fleeting to take action, please take two minutes to do so here (even if you already have)  before 7pm on 7/21.
ZTA 20-01 - a push for commercial scale solar siting on up to 3 square miles (1800) acres of the the County's Agricultural Reserve- has been a controversial proposal from the start. Reasonable people can agree that regenerative energy needs to be scaled up to meet the challenge of our lifetime (climate change) but disagree about where these commercial uses should be sited and the protections required for existing natural systems. 

At first this ZTA had no protections for habitat/forest/water quality or productive soils - in the area set aside for the protection of these things - the Ag Reserve. Councilmembers Jawando and Friedson offered amendments to try to put some of these protections in as the complex and controversial proposal was inexplicably speeding through committee despite concern from urban rural residents and unanimous opposition from the farming community. 

The second T+E (Transportation and Environment Committee) hearing took place on July 16 (full wrap up here). County staff had prepared a GIS map that showed how many acres remained for industrial solar if it were prohibited on fragile lands of different types - slopes, forests, stream buffers. 

 Once the forests, buffers and slopes where taken out, then Councilmembers had to learn more about the difference between prime soils and the different classifications of soils 1-3.  Jeremy Criss of Ag Services said that for the Ag Preservation program they do not use the "prime" designation but instead focus on classes 1-3 as "productive". 

Seeing that taking out all soils 1-3 (again, all called "productive") would leave only 3000 acres where industrial solar could be sited seemed to frustrate ZTA architect Councilmember Hans Riemer - "well, it just isn't worth doing if you take all this land out of consideration - solar providers will have to find a needle in a haystack". Riemer would rather protect soils by capping the number of acres that can be under solar as a way to protect farms. To which Councilmember Friedson said, "It's not how much solar we want, it is where we want it. There are consequences."

Watching the hearing, the map of soils looked like  a sea of colors - there was no on-the-ground nuance provided about what the different classes of soil look like and what they can grow- the consequences for failing to protect soils Friedson so rightly pointed out. This does a disservice to the discussion and the decision makers having it. 

That is why we at MCA did a bit of digging (sorry;)) and correlated the Reserve's farms to the types of soils they possess to better show the impact of this proposal. See the list of which farms are on which soil below or click here to see it bigger. 
Picture
An on the ground example - the intersection at 28 and Peach tree road as seen by the Councilmembers on the map in the hearing vs Google satellite view is instructive:
​
Picture
At left - blobs of color:
Orange= Class 2 soils
Peach=Class 3 soils
Green= higher/ "worse" than class 3
At right, the same view on Google Satellite view of two legacy table crop producing farms, Kingsbury's Orchard to the North and Lewis Orchard to the South. The blocks of dark green in the lower part of the google map (on those class 3 soils) are rows upon rows of table crops grown by Lewis Orchard, farming since 1888.  From the ground it looks like this (Lewis Orchard Facebook): 
Picture
A small sampling of  the 25+ crops they grow look like this:
Picture
Why this matters: 
Most Reserve farms are growing bountiful local table crops on soils 2 and 3 and "worse". We are looking to grow the next generation of farmers in MoCo. In our expensive region, land leases are the way to get new farmers started. All our Land Link matches in the Reserve so so far are on mixed class 2, 3 and worse soils. The landowners offering land for lease in the Reserve have the same 2/3+ soils. Under this ZTA, the landowner could either site an industrial use on that acreage or lease to a new table crop producer in the only part of the county set aside 40 years ago for that purpose. All "productive" soils class 1-3 need to be protected under this ZTA so that Agriculture can be protected in the Agricultural Reserve.
What's Next? 
The Committee will again meet on this issue at 9:30am on Wednesday (7/22) - click here to watch on YouTube. 

If you have not yet let the Council know your concerns - take two minutes to do so here- we thank you!

Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Action
    Barnesville Oaks/Greentree
    Bike
    Climate Change
    CSA
    Development
    Education
    Energy
    Events
    Fun!
    Growing Legacy
    Land Link
    Local Food
    Master Plan Update
    Mega Church
    Montgomery Council
    News
    Open Space
    Outer Beltway
    Parks
    Planning
    Potomac Bridge
    Racial Justice
    Recent Accomplishments
    Recipes
    Reducing Waste
    Regenerative Ag
    Releaf
    Rocklands
    Rural Schools
    Sewer
    Solar
    Take Action Now
    Ten Mile Creek
    Thrive 2050
    Transporation
    Water

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    November 2010
    October 2010

ABOUT US
What We Do
A Brief History
Board & AC
Staff & Volunteers
Contact
​​Buy MCA Gear
ABOUT Ag RESERVE
History of the Ag
Benefits of the Ag
Farm Facts
Threats to the Ag
​A Place with Purpose
NEWS
EVENTS
Local Events
Ride for the Reserve
Royce Hanson Award
SUPPORT LOCAL
Ag Guide
Local Food Connection
Community Supported Agriculture
Restaurants & Retail
​Artists of the Reserve
COMMUNITY RESOURCES
​Land Link
Producer's Resources
Directory of Services
Picture
Montgomery Countryside Alliance
P.O Box 24, Poolesville, MD  20837
301-461-9831  •  ​info@mocoalliance.org
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
MCA is proud to announce that we have been recognized for a third time as one of the best small charities in the D.C. region by Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. A panel of 110 expert reviewers from area foundations, corporate giving programs, and peer non-profit organizations evaluated 270 applications.

​MCA is known as an effective and innovative non-profit whose efforts to preserve and promote Montgomery County’s nationally recognized 93,000 acre Ag Reserve have brought increased public and governmental support of local food production and farmland and open space preservation. Most importantly, MCA’s efforts are putting more farmers on the ground and keeping them there.
COPYRIGHT © MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE 2008