To the editor:

This is in response to the letter by Margaret Kramar that appeared in the paper on July 14.

This was in reference to the value of prime farmland. She stated that this farm ground only produced food for cattle and hogs. I’m assuming that she is a vegetarian, who doesn’t eat cornflakes, cornmeal, corn chips or corn oil, which is in so many processed foods now. I also assume she doesn’t eat tofu or use any soy sauce because those products come from the crops that we raise in that prime farm ground.

She mentioned deep annual tillage. Perhaps she doesn’t realize that much of our land is now no till.

I have a lot of questions about solar panels. How long do they last? What happens to them when they become obsolete? Can they be recycled? She mentions prairie grasses and wildflowers could be planted between the solar panels.

Again, I have to ask what happens when cockleburs and tall sunflowers grow in those areas and shade the panels? I was shocked when I read in the Journal-World that a thousand acres of solar panels will only furnish power to 30,000 homes! One thousand acres of prime farmland will grow a lot of food for many people.

It makes me sad that city people don’t understand where their food comes from. Farmers work long hours. It is hard work. They work with dangerous machinery. And they do it more than anything because they love the land!

Janet Churchbaugh Grant,

Lawrence