2024 Spring Issue of Urban Land - 61

We're a Weskan company‚ we're all about
western Kansas and eastern Colorado-so
we're a local company.
UL: You have already cut deals to add
wind and solar to a lot of your land. Can
your renewable energy co-exist with the
grain and cattle operations?
Soloviev: That's why this farmland is cheap,
but that's where the wind is, and the wind
turbines. I have solar and wind companies that
have leased everything I have, except for a
little bit of acreage in New Mexico.
Instead of buying small acreage that can
support more cows, we were buying mass
acreage in the windiest place in America. We
hit home runs on every turbine that is put
on our property. We want as many turbines
as we can get, because they'll make us more
money than any grain you can grow.
A private company, Invenergy, based in
Chicago, has a minimum annual payment per
turbine of $25,000, and they already have 42
approved for our land in Colorado.
There's also a Florida company, NextEra
Energy, and for solar, they pay in excess of
$500 per acre. You can't farm around the
solar, but you also can't make $500 per acre
on crops.
UL: In New York, your Atlantic Region of
Crossroads Agriculture owns hundreds of
acres on eastern Long Island, with about
20 different companies, ranging from
vineyards to a small hotel and winery,
peach orchards, an apiary, a marina,
Christmas tree farms, nurseries, cattle,
and I believe you are also starting a
landscape company and a construction
company, right?
Soloviev: Greenwave Landscape & Design is
the full-service landscaping company that I'm
going to also bring down to Florida. We're just
launching it in the Hamptons, and we'll have
all the options to give everyone what they
want. You will have the option for your property
to be organic.
We have about 375 acres (152 ha), and we
will build some homes-but tastefully. I am
aware of the importance of preserving open
space, so the majority of our farmland [on
Long Island] is going to be vineyards for our
wine company, Krissie Vineyards.
UL: How do you see organic farming
being incorporated into your farming
methods?
Soloviev: [That's] what everybody is concerned
about-pesticides and spraying and
organic food and non-organic food. [Soon]
we're not going to have to spray anything,
because there will be robots with lasers spraying
everything ... and killing it with a laser.
It's not efficient right now, but if you wait
five years, we will have this whole thing fixed.
Don't get on farmers right now. You need conventional
agriculture for people to survive.
Once it's efficient, once it works in our programs,
I'm more than happy to use it.
Everything [we do] is about the long game.
UL
LOIS WEISS writes for numerous real estate publications and is considered
" the voice of New York City " commerical real estate.
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2024 Spring Issue of Urban Land

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2024 Spring Issue of Urban Land
