The Community Voice 4 Hume (CV4H) is urging all the NSW election candidates to make clear their stance on the proposed solar farms within the Goulburn electorate.
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Landcare Goulburn Mulwaree forms part of CV4H and has thrown its support behind posing the question of the candidates.
"While no one necessarily wants to live next door to a solar farm, as evidenced by opposition from landowners in the vicinity of the Gundary solar farm in Goulburn Mulwaree, there are significant benefits that accrue to the landholders, local community and to the nation as a whole from those farms," CV4H president Bob Philipson said.
"It is by identifying and documenting the benefits that we have the opportunity to bring the community together."
Landcare Goulburn Mulwaree president Julia McKay said she had identified substantial benefits from solar projects, including planting vegetables and crops between the panels.
"This has the potential to make the community sustainable in vegetables, a benefit of very significant proportions at a time when the climate is becoming increasingly hostile to farming and our way of living," she said.
Mr Philipson and Ms McKay are in agreement that climate change is a major challenge to local communities and that solar farms can create "micro-climates" where the shade maintains moisture and a milder temperature in the soil.
"There is a global, national and local benefit to reducing carbon emissions and to cooling the ground. The latter is something that Canberra-based, and internationally recognised environmental scientist, Walter Jehne, promotes," Mr Philipson said, adding that Mr Jehne is a key adviser to CV4H.
Mr Jehne is the founder of Healthy Soils Australia and previously worked with the CSIRO.
"Improving the soil, as proposed by Landcare Goulburn Mulwaree's suggested horticultural project for the solar farms and through the whole of suburb regeneration project, will enable significantly more water availability than would otherwise be the case".
Mr Philipson said following significant rain events throughout 2022 two properties were showing the benefits of capturing excess ground water to plant additional trees.
