In our latest 101 West special on the energy sector and where it's headed, we found a lot of opposition toward solar and wind energies in Van Wert County over concerns it would ruin the farmland.

However, local Farmer, Owner and Operator of Green Gate Farms in Canfield Wayne Greier said farmland can still prosper even with solar panels on the land through a process called agrivoltaics.

After a serious bout with COVID back in 2020, coupled with other illnesses that followed, Greier found himself fighting for his life.

"I've had seven abdominal surgeries in the passed four years, numerous doctor's appointments and with doing this, I racked up a large amount of medical debt," Greier said.

Greier's medical bills mounted in excess of $1 million dollars. So when a solar company inquired of his land, hoping to install some panels, he saw it as a financial opportunity.

"They started talking about agrivoltaics which, a definition of agrivoltaics is farming with the solar, being able to make hay between the rows, being able to raise sheep between the rows," Greier said. "The panels are raised up high enough that they can graze right underneath, they can eat the grass from it, there's strips in between the panels that there's smaller equipment we can drive between the panels," he said.

Greier tells 21 News this is not a permanent decision once it's been made. The farmland can revert back to it's original state after removing the solar panels and it would be completely unharmed.

"The amount of farmland lost is very, very small when we add in the agrivoltaics with it because we are not taking away the land just for energy, we're using the land to it's full potential," Greier said. "We're actually grazing it we're making hay off of it and we're making energy off of it," he said.

However, having this renewable energy was met with extreme opposition by people in Green Township who wanted nothing to do with these panels.

"We had to pull our kids from school because people were asking them at school saying, 'We're going to ruin the community, we were going to ruin property values,' tons and tons of stuff, I actually had death threaits against me," Greier said. "They made it a very much political issue which they need to take the politics out of this. This is not a Republican thing, this is not a Democrat thing, this is not a green new deal thing, this is about bringing economic growth and power to our area," he said.

Greier's plan was shot down before it could even get off the ground due to Senate Bill 52, which allows individual cities and townships to choose to deny the use of renewables.

"Our project alone was going to make $42 million in tax revenue," Greier said. "It really bothers me because where does it end? If we already now proved that a group of people can tell you what to do with your property, when can they tell us you can't spread manure because they don't like the smell? When are they going to say you can't spray roundup because it's unsafe? When are they going to say we don't want you farming past midnight because you're keeping us up," he said.

Greier adds, many farmers are struggling to make ends meet and this money would have been a way to save his family farm without having to sell any property and would have helped his family get back on their feet.

"We've had to sell property that we've owned, it was actually property that my mom and dad bought when they got married so it was a very hard piece to sell. People don't realize a bag of seed corn costs $400. For the average person, you don't think about that and a bag of seed corn only does two and a half acres," Greier said. "So, when we're adding up buying 50, 60, a hundred bags of seed corn, it's just astronomical. In the United States, only 50 percent of farmers report a profit every year and it's not the same farmers. Droughts and everything, there's just so much risk involved with farming," he said.

Greier continues solar panels are not toxic or unsafe in any way.

"Ninety-five percent of the panels made are silicon. Silicon is the second most abundant element in the Earth. It's safe, it's everywhere. The only thing more abundant on the Earth is oxygen. People worry about them leaking, there's nothing liquid, it's all dry material and the panels are actually encapsulated," Greier said. "You hear all the time about one hail storm is going to break that, people don't realize solar panels actually move and tilt on an axis and so they follow the sun. So if there's a bad storm coming or snow storm coming, the operators can turn these panels at almost vertical so that there's less surface to hit and teh snow doesn't stick to them. We heard stuff that they were gonna produce large amounts of heat and there's studies and stuff that shows that there's actually a cooling effect around the solar panels," he said.

Greier tells 21 News misunderstandings and a lack of knowledge surrounding renewable energies is the issue here and that all he wanted was to be heard out.