February 3, 2025

Farmers have been harvesting the sun’s energy for centuries, planting seeds and watching the sunshine and rain help their plants develop into crops that produce food, feed, fiber and fuel for the world.
Lately, however, growers have been facing more competition for one of those resources as solar panels have begun springing up on what was formerly prime farmland in the U.S. and in other parts of the world.
The conflict is causing some in agriculture and the solar industry to ask if the two sectors can’t coexist on the 1,000 square miles in the U.S. that have solar panels today. (That could grow to 10,000 to 20,000 square miles under the Biden administration’s goal of 100% clean energy by 2035.)
Why are solar companies seeking out farmland? “There’s a preference for agricultural lands because they’re so well-suited to this type of development,” said Peggy Kirk Hall, attorney and director of The Ohio State University Extension Service’s Agricultural and Resource Law Program.
Solar developments
About 100,000 acres of Ohio farmland have been developed or are in the planning stage for solar developments, a growing issue that has caused “consternation” across the state and resistance in rural areas, she said.
Ohio is among 17 states, including most of the Midsouth, which are capable of generating between 200 and 1,000 megawatts of solar electricity. Another 15 states can generate between 1,000 and 10,000 megawatts, and five states can generate more than 10,000 megawatts.
The U.S. currently has 102.9 gigawatts of solar capacity or enough electricity to power 18.6 million homes or about 13% of U.S. households, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Besides taking farmland out of production, solar farms are raising other issues. “There are concerns about the effects of solar on local agricultural infrastructure and services and what the loss of acreage means for agricultural economies,” Hall said. “And there’s the impact on rural landscapes and property values.”
Mixing solar and agricultural use, referred to as agrivoltaics, may allow some producers to “have their cake and eat it, too,” according to Jesse Richardson, professor of law and lead land use attorney at the West Virginia University College of Law. (Hall and Richardson spoke during a National Agricultural Law Center webinar on agrivoltaics.)
“We can have solar arrays, but we can also have livestock on the land or crop production or pollinator habitat,” he said. “The production occurs beneath the solar panels, which are elevated, and for some crops and for some livestock that shade is beneficial.”
Agrivoltaic projects
Richardson said more than 560 agrivoltaics projects are currently being conducted on an estimated 62,000 acres in the U.S. Many of those are taking place in the Northeast, around the Great Lakes and in California where most solar panel arrays are located.
“We’ve seen reports of success with forages grown between the panels, but there’s not enough data on commercial alfalfa and cool season hay crops in these settings,” he said. “Crops like kale, peppers, Swiss chard, broccoli, celery, winter wheat, clover and potatoes that are shade tolerant or even shade preferring may work well, but, again, more research is needed.”
Livestock may offer more promise in agrivoltaics, but animals require different types of advanced planning before the solar panels can be installed.
“We’ve seen some success with cattle, but cattle can be destructive of the panels,” Richardson said. “The solar panel installers generally must raise the panels and reinforce the supports to cope with the cattle. Pigs, horses and goats are generally not recommended as well.
“Chickens, ducks and geese have been successful, but you have to make sure the panels are high enough that they don’t roost, which, of course, adds to the expense.”
Sheep seem to offer the most promise for adding livestock for use with solar panels. “Sheep seem to be beneficial because they act as lawnmowers,” he noted. “They do not tend to destroy the solar panels or climb on them like goats do.”
Pollinator crops
Beekeepers are also finding that solar farms can also provide good locations for pollinator crops like clover and other flowering plants. Richardson said a high percentage of the agrivoltaics projects he cited involve pollinator crops.
“We’ve talked about how you can have cattle or row crops, but if you’re going to do those things, you have to make sure the solar project is designed to accommodate the activity,” he said. “It could mean changing the width between the rows of panels or elevating the panels and reinforcing the supports. That has to be included in the planning.
“That adds costs to the developer, and there is risk of damage to the solar arrays from the farming activities. The farmer, on the other hand, might have to change what crops they raise or switch to livestock. And the widths of the rows between the solar panels – do they accommodate your farm equipment, or do you have to invest in new machinery?”
And, if you do change to other crops or livestock will markets be available for that output?
“There’s a lot of research on these different issues, but solar production is growing so quickly around the country, the research is lagging behind,” he said.
“We are seeing reports of producers getting $1,000 an acre for solar leases,” said Hall. “If we are on farms that have prime farmland soils or have a lot of crop production, we can maintain some agricultural production and solar energy production, which diversifies the source of income.
“I do a lot of work on water issues, and we need to conserve water. The shade and vegetation connected with these solar projects can conserve water, and, in some cases, the yields are almost as good or may be increased a bit, particularly for shade-tolerant and heat-sensitive plants.”
Keeping some type of agriculture on the land may also reduce community resistance to solar projects. “Some research shows it can also provide critical habitat for wildlife,” said Richardson. “As Peggy pointed out, farmland is better suited to the installation of solar panels – they don’t have to do clearing and leveling.
“On the other hand, solar panels are less efficient as they get hot, and vegetation around the panels may help keep the temperatures of the panels down.”
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