On a 160-acre farm in central Iowa, three tall wind turbines quietly rise above the fields.
asserted
turbines → rise → fields
Each turbine uses less than an acre of land, but together they provide an annual income that has changed the financial future of 75-year-old farmer Evie Haupt.
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that → use → Haupt
According to a CBS News report by Janet Shamlian and Alicia Hastey, Haupt earns about $35,000 each year by leasing part of her land for the wind turbines.
uncertain
Haupt → accord → turbines
The income rises with inflation and has helped her pay down a $350,000 farm debt left after her husband died a decade ago.
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husband → rise → debt
Her remaining debt is now $67,000.
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debt → remain → ?
For many family farms across the United States, extra sources of income have become important lifelines.
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sources → become → income
The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects farm profits to fall by 25 per cent, as farmers face higher costs, changing crop prices and unpredictable weather.
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farmers → expect → costs
Adding wind power to traditional farming can provide steady income and help protect farmers from financial shocks.
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Adding → add → shocks
A financial lifeline for rural landowners
Farm debt can force families to make difficult choices, including selling land that has been passed down through generations.
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that → force → generations
Haupt faced a major financial challenge after her husband died, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of dollars in farm debt.
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husband → face → debt
Payments from the wind turbines gave her a steady source of money that could go toward those loans.
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that → give → loans
Each turbine uses less than an acre, so Haupt can still farm most of her 160 acres.
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Haupt → use → acres
This gives her two sources of income from the same land, while using only a small part of the property for the turbines.
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This → give → turbines
The payments can also rise over time because the contracts include inflation adjustments.
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contracts → rise → adjustments
This helps protect landowners as prices and other costs change.
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prices → help → landowners
She has paid off more than 80 per cent of her farm debt while keeping the land in use.
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She → pay → use
The explosive expansion of Iowa wind power
Iowa has become a major wind energy state over the past two decades.
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Iowa → become → decades
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Iowa had only a few hundred wind turbines 20 years ago.
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Iowa → accord → turbines
Today, it has more than 6,000, producing about 60 per cent of the state's energy.
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it → have → energy
Across the United States, more than 70,000 land-based wind turbines are operating, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
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turbines → base → Energy
Nationwide, wind power supplies about 10 per cent of the electric grid.
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power → supply → grid
Federal energy officials also say current U.S. wind power cuts carbon emissions by an amount equal to taking 73 million passenger vehicles off the road.
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power → say → road
Attorney Kathy Law, who grew up on a farm and married a farmer, has helped place nearly half of Iowa's wind turbines.
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who → grow → turbines
Her work in energy law grew from her own family's experience with farming.
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work → grow → farming
Law wanted to study law while she was in high school, but the severe farm crisis of the 1980s kept her home to help with the family farm.
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crisis → want → farm
She later went to law school in her forties.
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She → go → forties
She graduated on the same day her son finished high school and later served as president of the Iowa Wind Energy Association for three years.
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son → graduate → years
"From my farm background, I think I can talk their talk and have conversations with landowners that are interested in having wind turbines on their property," Law told CBS News.
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Law → think → News
Addressing local pushback and debate
The rapid growth of wind power in rural communities has also brought opposition in some counties.
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growth → address → counties
Local critics say wind turbines can change scenic views, create unwanted noise and threaten birds and bats.
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turbines → say → birds
Law believes landowners should be able to decide what happens on their property.
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what → believe → property
"Nobody's requiring them to put that on their farms or on their land," Law said during her interview with CBS News.
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Law → require → News
"We want to be able to put turbines on our land and receive those benefits."
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We → want → benefits
Haupt has a similar view of the changes to her farm.
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Haupt → have → farm
While she remains attached to traditional farming, she sees clean energy as an important step for rural communities.
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she → remain → communities
"I look at it as progress," Haupt told CBS News.
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Haupt → look → News
"I think we can't stand in the way of progress."
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we → think → progress
For Haupt, giving up a very small part of her land to produce electricity makes sense for her finances and for the wider community.
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giving → give → community
"I need to give up one or two acres of my land so that I can generate a commodity that we all use every day, and we all want to use more of it every day," Haupt said.
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Haupt → need → it
The Aporia
