May 10: Energy farms: North German farmers harvest mainly energy The yellow coleseed fields have been a regular sight since we entered Germany. I've always understood that the energy yield per hectare is ridiculously low (sorry, we don't have the figures at hand). But either that news hasn't reached the farmers here or they have been properly compensated. Or perhaps they just don't give a 'bums' and they like their fields yellow. Whatever the explanation: rapeseed is the dominant crop here.     Solar energy is harvested by enormous roofs fully covered by solar pannels. Sometimes roofs of farm, stables and sheds are just not enough and extra panels are put in the fields in between sheep to increase the active surface.   These are the visible consequences of the very succesfull EEG (Erneuerbaren Energieen Gesetz) that has been in effect since 2000 and which guarantees a fixed price for renewable power.   Behind the farms, wind turbines are spinning. Some old and beaten, half rusted, but they are still happily churning away in the sea breeze, earning their owners money at every spin.   There are (zillions of) sheep on the dykes, and occasionally some cows mooing in the meadows, but agriculture in Northern Germany consists mainly of harvesting energy.