In 2016, another Iowa corn-and-soy farmer collected about $20,000 a year from turbines, giving his farm a cash floor when crop prices were below costs

For farmers whose earnings depend heavily on the price of corn and soybeans, a poor harvest is not the only financial risk. Even when crops perform well, falling commodity prices can leave little room between the cost of production and what the harvest brings in. In 2016, an Iowa farmer found another source of income on his farmland: wind turbines.According to the Omaha World-Herald, Tim Hemphill, a corn and soybean farmer outside Milford, Iowa, was receiving about $20,000 a year from leasing land for wind turbines. The figure was reported in 2016 and later repeated by the Advanced Power Alliance. The arrangement reflected a wider change taking place across Iowa, where wind power had become an important part of the state's electricity supply while providing some rural landowners with an additional source of income.When crop prices fellThe timing of Hemphill's wind income was important. In 2016, Iowa's farmers had to face a period characterised by low commodity prices. The Omaha World-Herald stated that the cost of growing corn might be quite high compared to the market price, which would put some pressure on the farmers who mainly relied on their crops to earn an income. Hemphill said corn had once sold for about $7 a bushel, while his production costs were about $4.20 a bushel.Against that backdrop, a wind lease worked differently from a crop sale. The farmer did not have to harvest an additional crop from the land occupied by the turbine. Instead, the energy company paid for the right to use the site for wind-energy infrastructure. The amount a farmer receives depends on the contract and the number and capacity of turbines involved. A US Government Accountability Office review found that wind-farm lease payments varied considerably between projects and could reach tens of thousands of dollars a year for individual farmers. For Hemphill, the reported $20,000 annual payment therefore represented a relatively predictable addition to farm income at a time when crop revenue was much less certain.Farming beneath the turbinesThe presence of wind turbines did not automatically translate to the surrounding agricultural lands becoming useless to the farmer. The land taken up by the turbine foundation, roads and other infrastructure is minimal, and farming can continue on the surrounding land. A 2021 report on Iowa farmer Kelly Nieuwenhuis offers an example: he had two MidAmerican Energy turbines on his farm, while the surrounding land was still used for corn and soybean farming. The turbines’ infrastructure covered about two acres, and the landowner also received lease income.Research has also examined what happens to farmland values when turbines are installed. A study in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics found that lease payments were one factor that could affect the value of farmland hosting turbines, along with roads, turbine pads and possible disruption to farming operations. Lease terms, infrastructure requirements, access and the amount of land taken out of production all formed part of the economic calculation.A different kind of farm revenueWind development was important not only for electricity production in Iowa. Indeed, in 2015, Iowa generated 31% of its electricity from wind, the largest share among U.S. states. That year, Iowa farmers received millions of dollars in wind-lease payments. According to a 2024 report on farm operations, 3.5 per cent of farms received energy payments related to wind, oil or natural gas, and those payments averaged more than $30,000 a year in 2020.For a farmer like Hemphill, the benefit was even more direct. His profit from corn and soybeans might fluctuate with market forces, but his wind lease was guaranteed. The turbines were not a replacement for farming, but another business activity on the same agricultural land. The 2016 story reflected a broader trend across parts of the American Midwest: land could generate value not only from crops, but also from wind leases.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.