As Mason County makes comprehensive plans for the future, we must consider that because of provisions in the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 that permits farmers to make their own crop planting decisions based on the most profitable crop for a given year, corn acreage in the United States has increased from a Government-mandated low of 60.2 million planted acres in 1983 to close to or exceeding 90 million since 2018.  Much of this growth in area and production is a result of expanding ethanol production, which now accounts for nearly 45 percent of total corn use.  

Biodiesel production accounts for an increasing share of soybean oil use in the United States, currently representing about 30% of domestic soybean oil disposition. 

As ground transportation moves to electric vehicles switching highly erodible land from corn and soybeans to large-scale solar production will not impact food production but can

• Protects our topsoil for future generations.
• Reduces chemical pollution in local watersheds. 
• Generate an additional revenue to replace lost tobacco and dairy  income
• Increase the number of local high-value job opportunities.  
• Increase the real estate tax base to support local services.
• Don’t add a long-term burden to local infrastructure.