Kansas Rancher Turns Half a Hundred Turbines into a Reliable Cash Crop

Pete Ferrell, whose family has run a 7,000-acre cattle operation for generations, now leases land for 50 wind turbines that belong to the Elk River Wind Project, a 150-megawatt facility with 100 GE 1.5-megawatt units. The farm, which started commercial output in December 2005, was originally projected to produce roughly 550,000 megawatt-hours annually—enough for an estimated 42,000 homes. Ferrell receives lease royalties that act as a financial safety net when rain-dependent cattle revenues fall short.

The turbines occupy only about 50 acres, so cattle still graze across most of the tallgrass prairie. The Environmental Defense Fund cites his case as an example of how renewable projects can bolster rural economies without displacing traditional agriculture. While the wind farm contributes to Kansas’s broader wind-energy boom, the story underscores that such developments must be carefully sited to preserve the region’s prairie ecosystem.