Whilst many farmers benefit from a wind turbine, those who use rather than export the electricity they generate would benefit most – e.g. dairy farmers.

The front page of January’s South West Farmer highlighted the crisis in dairy farming with milk prices failing to keep up with rising on-farm costs.

One of the causes of increasing on-farm costs is the rising price of energy, and the predicted future increases in energy costs could be the last straw for many dairy farmers. An excellent way of avoiding these price rises is to generate one’s own electricity using a wind turbine.

Another option is to rent out a small parcel of land to an investor who would install a wind turbine and pay a rental value for 20 years.

By generating this extra income dairy farmers would have more confidence in the future.

Laurence Smith, director of Southern Wind Power, said: “There are a range of finance options available for the purchase of a wind turbine, including funding secured against the wind turbine and not the land. We also have investors willing to pay a lease/rental value of £5,000 to more than £40,000 a year for 20 years to farmers for a small area of land to install a wind turbine.

"Due to expected future changes in the Feed in Tariff (FIT) this could be the last opportunity for many farmers to start the process of installing a wind turbine whilst it remains a viable option.”

Farmers requiring further information or a free initial assessment of a site can telephone 01884 260159 or email info@southernwindpower.co.uk.