U.S. Representative for Iowa’s 2nd District Mariannette Miller-Meeks visited several solar farms just north of Washington County Monday morning.

The congresswoman was given a tour by several executives of Farmers Electric Cooperative based in Frytown northwest of Kalona which included their solar garden which began in 2011 and is owned by 136 individuals or groups. The tour then went to the array the cooperative built with Simpleray, formerly known as Iowa Wind and Solar, which was previously considered to be the largest solar farm in Iowa in 2016. Miller-Meeks was asked during her tour what her priorities are for clean energy, “When it comes to agriculture, that is agriculture directed rather than a central approach from Washington D.C., because people in Washington, D.C., they’re not here. They don’t know what goes on here. When I say that 40% of our electricity in Iowa comes from renewables that shocks people. They’re not aware that we have that much renewable energy in Iowa.”

Miller-Meeks also visited the solar farm at Hillcrest Academy that was installed in 2013 by retired teacher Dick Yoder and his physics class. Yoder expressed his desire for solar to be given an equal tax credit as ethanol, or for there to be no tax credits at all. The tour concluded with a stop at Keith Troyer’s farm near Kalona.