I have to admit that I don't know how these farms are typically arranged as far as placement of the turbines etc.

I am pretty familiar with that area though and there are a lot of farm fields and I guess I envisioned a set-up with a couple large central plots with the turbines and then these plots are surrounded by a buffer of productive cropland.  In some instances it might be tough to satisfy set-backs from every single house on a rural road but, if a farmer were compensated fairly, with all the land available out there I think the physical aspects of siting could be overcome.  Now, overcoming the pre-conceived notions of something new in an area whose last great technological leap forward was either the Erie Canal or the old coal fired locomotive (take your pick) - I think that's where the real issue is... (Don't be offended western NY - you'll always be home - if only you had some damn mountains).

If the issue for most people is truly the visual disturbance caused by the windmills in the distance then I have no good way to argue against that.  They are the landowners and I'm sure they didn't buy thinking they'd be seeing a bunch of those on the horizon.  I could attempt the rather weak comeback of "well, it might beat seeing the cooling towers of a nuclear plant on the horizon - at least the windmills are dynamic, while nuke plants just sit there, kind of spooky since you know there's some serious stuff happening inside that containment..."