Mark Turner farms eight minutes from the town of Skaneateles, New York. His operation has shifted through crops, silage for dairy, a five-year orchard experiment and now a herd of Hereford cattle.
The Turner’s farm has also farmed energy. For years, a 133-foot wind turbine generated 85 kilowatts annually, a landmark visible from Skaneateles Lake. Since 2019, over 300 feet of backyard solar panels have cut $10,000 dollars from his power bills, covering eight months of electricity in his now-retired milking barn.
He calls himself both a farmer and a land steward. A longtime member of the Skaneateles Town Board and the Onondaga Farmland Protection Board, Turner embraces renewable energy in principle but draws a hard line on where it belongs…