Illinois Wind Turbines: Hermeneutic Study on Damage Exploration and Affects on the Small Business Farmer

Wind turbines create kinetic energy supplied to transmission lines instead of traditional oil-fired or natural gas operations (Jacobson & Delucchi, 2015). For corporations, finding available and unobstructed space for wind turbines was easy; lease land from small business crop farmers. The traditional small business crop family farmer continues to dominate crop agriculture (MacDonald, Penni, & Hoppe, 2015). In 2011, family farms in the U.S. held 96 percent of crop farms, and the value of crop production was at 87 percent (MacDonald, Penni, & Hoppe, 2015). The purpose of this hermeneutic study is to explore the perceptions and lived experiences of families who live on or near wind farms and to better understand the extent of the problems that turbines cause on their property and communities. The focus of this research is the effect of wind turbines on the traditional small business farmers and their families while continuing to farm traditional crops. Fundamental questions addressed during this study guided an outcome. The literature review showed a need for leaders and experts to participate in crop failure studies and agrees that there should be more in-depth research objectives. Reviews of literature relevant to exploring and understanding problems turbines cause on property and surrounding communities. Information concerning the research methodology and the phenomenological research design selected for the study who expressed. A scrupulous description of the research findings and the process that was implemented to collect data from 15 participants and lastly an outline of the research results and interpretations of the data