Kansas Rancher Says Wind Turbines Cover Half His Income, and the Prairie Chickens Are Still Fine

Peter Ferrell’s family has worked the same 7,000 acres of Flint Hills tallgrass prairie since 1888. In 2006, he agreed to host 50 wind turbines on that land, and those turbines have covered half his income ever since. The Elk River Wind Power project generates enough electricity for about 60,000 homes.

The decision wasn’t easy. Ferrell worried about ruined views, prairie chicken habitat, and the feeling that taking royalty money was some kind of handout. A neighboring rancher helped him see it differently. Nearly twenty years later, he says almost nothing about the ranch has changed: cattle still graze, the prairie chickens still nest, and the grass still comes back every spring.

What did change is the future. The steady royalty income has shielded his family from the boom-and-bust swings that sink so many farm operations, which means his children and grandchildren can take over the land without taking on crushing debt. As Ferrell puts it, both the grass and the wind will be here for generations.

Would you trade your view for a guaranteed paycheck that keeps your family’s land in the family?