COLE CAMP, Mo. (AP) — Some central Missouri farmers are considering a new crop: wind.
More than 50 farmers and property owners from northern Benton County have agreed to explore whether to bring a 300-megawatt wind farm to the area.
The group met this past week at Cole Camp High School to consider building wind turbines in parts of northern Benton County. More than 50 farmers who own nearly 12,000 acres in the county agreed to solicit proposals from companies to conduct preliminary site evaluations.
Mark Chamberlin, a dairy and chicken farmer, began looking into the idea more than five years ago. He told the Sedalia Democrat he was interested in potential wind energy production after viewing studies that showed wind levels in northern Benton County were similar to those near recently developed wind farms in northwest Missouri.
“I live on a ridge and it’s always windy, and I knew there had to be a way to harvest that wind,” Chamberlin said.
The preliminary proposal includes the construction of 100 to 125 wind turbines in the northern part of the county, which would generate up to 300 megawatts of electricity.
