Stop Calling Them “Farms”

Why the language of renewables matters more than we think

By Rural Rebellion

The problem with “solar farms” and “wind farms”

Across Britain’s countryside, the word farm is being stretched beyond recognition. We now have solar farms, wind farms, and even data farms — yet fewer actual working farms than at any point in modern history.

This quiet shift in language isn’t harmless. It shapes how the public — and policymakers — think about land, food, and what it means to be rural. The word farm once stood for something sacred: a place where human skill met soil, weather, and livestock to create the essentials of life.

A farm fed people. It employed local hands. It was part of the community.

What a solar or wind site really is

Let’s be honest: a solar farm doesn’t grow anything. It’s not managed with agronomy, animal husbandry, or craft. It’s an industrial installation, a grid-connected facility that produces electricity, not food or fibre.

Most large-scale renewable energy projects are remote-owned, automated, and fenced off. They don’t sustain rural livelihoods in the same way a working farm does. Calling them “farms” is not just inaccurate — it’s a linguistic sleight of hand that disguises the industrialisation of the countryside.

Why language matters in rural Britain

Words carry power. By using the comforting word farm, energy developers borrow the credibility of agriculture — a sector that has always been associated with stewardship, productivity, and trust.

That framing makes it easier to convert farmland to energy use without a full reckoning of the trade-offs. Each time a local authority approves another “solar farm,” the implication is that it’s just another kind of farming — green, harmless, and familiar.

But land that once grew wheat or grazed sheep is now hosting metal, glass, and cable. That’s not farming. It’s infrastructure.

What we should call them instead

This isn’t an argument against renewable energy. Britain needs clean power, and the countryside has a role to play in delivering it. But clarity matters.

We could call these sites what they are:

• Solar installations

• Energy fields

• Wind sites

• Renewable generation plants

Any of these would do the job without erasing the meaning of farm. The point is not to diminish renewables — but to protect the dignity of farming itself.

Taking the word “farm” back

When every industrial project in the countryside starts calling itself a farm, the word loses its heart. Farming is not a metaphor. It’s the first and final technology — the foundation of civilisation and the daily act that sustains every community on Earth.

So let’s use words that respect both food producers and energy producers. They are not the same thing. And that’s fine.

It’s time to stop calling them farms.

About Rural RebellionRural Rebellion is a UK-based media project exploring Rural Futures — innovation in farming, off-grid technology, and rural revival. Our mission is to challenge lazy thinking about the countryside and celebrate those building its next chapter.

www.ruralrebellion.co.uk