Wind cash crop for Canadian farmers

Wind power could be a significant new cash crop for Canada's prairie farmers. Marc Chappell, an Ottawa-based consultant, has found that a farmer can expect to earn about C$110 a hectare each year by leasing land to wind power developers. That is more than the average C$72 a hectare a Saskatchewan grain farmer earns from his primary farming operation. Chappell says governments should consider supporting wind power as a way to augment and stabilise farm incomes in Canada. "It's an alternative to the ad hoc bailout type of arrangements that have had to be used in the past to sustain farming as a viable business in Canada."