Solar Plan Collides With Farm Tradition in Pacific Northwest

When a company from Seattle came calling, wanting to lease some land on Jeff and Jackie Brunson’s 1,000-acre hay and oat farm for a solar energy project, they jumped at the idea, and the prospect of receiving regular rent checks. They did not anticipate the blowback — snarky texts, phone calls from neighbors, and county meetings where support for solar was scant.Critics said the project would remove too much land from agricultural production in central Washington. If approved by regulators, it would be one of the biggest solar generators ever built in the state, with five large arrays spread around the county, covering around 250 acres with sun-sucking panels.Ms. Brunson said the critics should mind their own business and respect property rights. “They want the romance of watching you farm,” Ms. Brunson, 59, said. “They move into their little piece of heaven, their little three acres, or their little 20 acres, and they don’t want any other changes around them.”