By: Lisa Renze-Rhodes

A garden big enough to feed a family of six, with plenty of green beans, strawberries and other delicious treats to can and freeze for winter. Farmland for corn, soybeans, wheat, oats and hay. Pens for cattle, pigs, chicken and sheep. 

When Charles and Sarah Garrett bought their first bit of land in Blackford County’s Harrison Township in the 1950s, it’s unlikely they specifically imagined what it would eventually become. But they knew they were planning for the future. 

“They always had this idea that the land would take care of us,” said Rita Garrett Bell. “My brothers and I think about it the same way my parents did. We’re not looking to one more generation, but two or more at this point.”

But where once the land grew crops a family needed to thrive, today there’s a new type of self-sufficiency taking root. The Garrett siblings are among a host of landowners in Blackford County working with several companies planning renewable energy installations in the region. 

Tri Global Energy, a subsidiary of Leeward Renewable Energy, LLC, along with Geenex Solar/Lake Trout Solar are setting their sights on Blackford County for wind and solar energy farms and fields. 

Trena Roudebush, director of community and governmental relations with Geenex said there were a number of reasons her company chose Blackford County for their expansion plans. A physical landscape conducive for the development, along with infrastructure space were two key reasons. But even with that, she said, the companies couldn’t consider the county without the most important element:  local landowners who were willing to partner with them by leasing portions of their property. 

“As we’ve worked to develop this project over the past few years, we’ve had the opportunity to more deeply know the community and its leadership, as well the people and organizations that make Blackford County special,” Roudebush said. “We are very happy that Lake Trout Solar and EDF Renewables will continue to be part of this great community.”

Warren Brown, executive director of the Blackford County Economic Development Corporation said the county has a keen interest in these kinds of developments because of the opportunities they represent. Outside investors can affect the overall economic health of the community, Brown said, with an infusion of dollars for land use agreements, employment opportunities, and the expected increase in countywide property tax assessments.

But Brown said the motivation and rationale goes much deeper, especially in a county where, according to U.S. Census data, the poverty rate in children under 18 is nearly 20 percent. Payments from the proposed projects to the county, Brown said, “will affect the quality of life here. The quality of life can and should be improved with these projects.”

The alternative, he said, isn’t much of a choice. “If nothing changed and we decided we weren’t going to do these kinds of projects, we’d be on the same path we are already on,” Brown said. 

Currently, Blackford County ranks near the bottom of all of Indiana’s counties, at 84^th out of 92, relative to median household incomes. And according to data collected by the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, more than 80 percent of land in the county is designated for farming. So finding the right type of development that makes sense for a rural county is always challenging. 

[My parents] always had this idea that the land would take care of us. My brothers and I think about it the same way my parents did. We’re not looking to one more generation, but two or more.

Rita Garrett Bell

“Years ago, industry was the bulk of support for our tax base,” said Bell. “But in the past 20 years, the loss of those businesses, we no longer have those pillars which means the tax burden get redistributed to each homeowner and farmer.”

In the case of the proposed projects, Bell said, each development has the potential to bring other new business to the area. “I was always taught that to flourish, you have to invest,” Bell said. “Whether it’s in your education, your 401(k) or your community. I believe we have to invest in these projects as a community, because as a community we’ll either share the benefits or the burdens.”

Still, there are some local residents who aren’t sure if wind and solar are the right approach. Roudebush said Lake Trout Solar has offered different conversation and education opportunities for residents with questions or concerns. 

“We hosted Lunch-and-Learn sessions, visited at Hartford City Chamber events, and continued to have individual conversations with neighbors of the project and residents from across the county,” Roudebush said. “In May, we hosted a project Public Information Meeting at the Montpelier Library providing the general public a chance to explore the site maps of the project, learn more about the robust economic impacts the project will bring to the county, speak with various industry experts, see renderings of the project once it’s operational… and even touch a solar panel similar to what will be used at the project site.”

Those educational efforts are ongoing, she said, especially as the project comes closer to being online. 

Bell said she sees the projects as at least a beginning way to protect the land and those who use it. “As a nation, we’re needing to be less dependent on our natural resources as we see them now,” she said. “Less dependent on coal and gas, less dependent on other nations, environmental pollution needs to be reduced.” 

The issue strikes especially close to home for Bell, who raises Monarch butterflies. In a typical year, she said she can raise 200 butterflies. “This year it was 48,” Bell said. 

A recent trip to Kenya, Africa, was a further reminder for Bell that some Americans aren’t thinking progressively about how to protect the planet. “In Kenya, they plant milkweed along their roads, and they grow to be as big as bushes,” Bell said.

Milkweed plays a critical role in a Monarch’s life cycle, as Monarch caterpillars feed only on the leaves of the milkweed plants. 

“For us to be this far behind is astonishing to me,” Bell said. 

“You don’t see fireflies, you don’t see honeybees, you don’t see butterflies like we did when I was growing up,” she said. “In my heart, I’m a farmer and I realize the need for pesticides and herbicides. But we need to be better protectors of what’s given to us.”

Roudebush said the project could begin construction as early as late 2023 “in pursuit of a 2024 commercial operation timeline.”

“We anticipate construction lasting between 12 to 18 months,” Roudebush said. “From there, the facility is expected to be operational, quietly generating energy gathered from the sun, for as many as 40 years. During this time, the ground beneath and between the panels will be home to pollinators and other vegetation intended to rejuvenate the land, while preserving the farm for the next generation.”

Bell said it’s a future her family has been planning for in ways big and small since she was a young girl. “Farm life is just a wonderful life,” she said. “You work together, taking care of everything, it’s that shared responsibility. Knowing how hard my parents worked and the sacrifices they made, that’s the reason my brothers and I kept the farm intact, because that’s what my parents wanted.”