1-27 FB Rural Riches

 A headline in the Idaho Statesman… in tough times, farmers prosper. A recent Idaho Statesman front page story said this: “an Illinois farmer made so much money this year he made loan payments on one tractor a year in advance. An Iowa farmer upgraded his combine and also paid off debt. An elderly Oregon farmer poured into retirement funds a bundle of his 2 million-dollar take from a well-timed sale. So that’s from around the country, but as most of us know we are having wonderful times, in terms of agriculture, which includes wheat, right here in Idaho. But here’s yet another spin no pun intended… windmills. American Wind Energy Association Economist Liz Salerno says wind projects have been a boon to rural America. In fact - she says they’ve become a cash crop for rural landowners. “ You can put wind turbines on your property, it doesn’t take up a lot of room, you get an added income every year and you just continue to do the business you were doing before of farming, ranching, harvesting, so it is a great additional income,  almost all, that is 98% of wind projects are on private land in this country and we would like to see that development continue.