Shropshire farmers warming to solar panel cash cow
Green pastures could soon have an altogether different meaning as fields full of solar panels look set to crop up across Shropshire.

The eco-friendly energy source has seen a surge in popularity across the country ever since the Government offered to pay for the power they generated.
Later this year, thousands of 9ft high solar panels on metal frames will be planted on a 54-acre (22 hectare) site nine miles from Shrewsbury.
Hayford Farm, near Westbury, will become the county's first multi-million pound solar farm, after getting the green light from Shropshire planners in January.
And more sites are likely to follow according to Shropshire chartered surveyors Roger Parry, which acted as the agent for the scheme.
Guy Maxwell said: "There are masses of solar developers who are looking for sites and we have several who ring us up on a regular basis to see if we have any sites in Shropshire."
He said solar farms were proving increasingly popular because of the the efficiency of the systems compared to other energy sources.
"Anaerobic digestion needs 400 acres to produce 0.5 mega watts of energy, while you only need 25 acres of solar panels to generate five megawatts," he said.
The £12 million farm at Westbury, expected to be up and running this year, will feed energy back into the national grid via transformers – generating enough electricity to power nearly 3,000 homes.
It is claimed the site will save more than 4.5 million kilograms of carbon dioxide from being put into the atmosphere every year for the next 20 years.
Wilfred Maddocks dairy farm in Newport was home to Shropshire's largest solar power system when its 100kw panels were installed two years ago.
"They are doing 20 per cent over budget," said director Richard Maddocks.
The popularity of the panels was reflected in the growing number of planning applications received by Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin councils.
Shropshire Council registered just one solar panel planning application per year between 2002 and 2004. Bids crept up to eight in 2006, 10 in 2007, 15 in 2008, 14 in 2009, and reached 30 in 2010.
The outlook was not quite as sunny in Telford & Wrekin where three applications were recorded in 2007 and one a year between 2008 and 2010.
But 2011 saw solar power plans soar with 94 applications in Shropshire and 11 in Telford & Wrekin.
The spike followed the Government announcement that feed-in tariffs would be slashed by half for all systems installed after March 2012.
Nevertheless, applications are still being made, with Shropshire Council logging 30 in 2012 and another 32 have already been submitted this year.
The green generators have got the thumbs up from John Mercer, the West Midlands regional director for the National Farmer's Union.
He said: "Shropshire's agricultural and horticultural buildings present ideal platforms for solar photovoltaics and our farmers are delivering in terms of cleaner energy.We are seeing solar used for a variety of purposes – from helping to run poultry heating systems all the way through to those who just want to be a bit more energy efficient."
Dairy farm director Richard Maddocks said: "There's a lot of anaerobic digestion about and I personally believe it immoral.
"Fields and fields of maize are being grown to keep them going and when there are people starving in the world it's disgusting. We have got them on the roofs of our sheds so it's not affecting anything."