Some farmers in Buena Vista and Cherokee counties, in northwest Iowa, were angry when the owner of a 10-year-old wind farm built on their land cut their annual payments of $2,100 by two-thirds. "We had no idea they could do it," said retired farmer Ronovan Meyer of Alta, who signed a lease with what was then an Enron subsidiary to allow a wind turbine on his 160-acre farm. The lease signed by Meyer and about 30 other farmers called for payments of about 6 percent of the value of the power produced. The new terms cut those payments to 2 percent with landowners being guaranteed at least $750 per year.
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