One thing I urge you to consider the loss of farmland. As farmers begin to age out of farming, millions of acres of current farmland will become available. These are not the mega corporate farms I am pointing at, but the remaining family farms. We need an immediate farm program to connect young farmers who want land to farm with the older retiring farms. My fear is that they without a program, they will sell arable land for solar farms. We need a balance.
I just watched a short film on PBS about a farm that incorporated solar panels into their veggie fields. It's called "agrivoltaics" and it's one way to marry clean energy with food production. In other words, we can have both solar installations AND food production on the same land!
Yes, agrivoltaics is a good combination but it's not yet popular for an assortment of reasons. I live in a rural county where a large solar farm was just approved. The property's owner retired after 45 years of farming. He sold the property to a solar company because he couldn't find a buyer to farm it. Yet in my region, we have younger people who want to farm but can't afford the skyrocketing price of land. A forward thinking arrangement would be to ensure family farms, regional production of food, and energy production continue. This article from High Country News highlights some of the issues around promoting agrivoltaics. https://www.hcn.org/articles/why-isnt-agrivoltaics-taking-off-in-arizona/
Is there an organization that connects Texas land owners with reputable solar developers?
Ni us also recyclable.
The possibility of leasing my rooftop sounds intriguing. We have good southern exposure without a lot of shade.
One thing I urge you to consider the loss of farmland. As farmers begin to age out of farming, millions of acres of current farmland will become available. These are not the mega corporate farms I am pointing at, but the remaining family farms. We need an immediate farm program to connect young farmers who want land to farm with the older retiring farms. My fear is that they without a program, they will sell arable land for solar farms. We need a balance.
I just watched a short film on PBS about a farm that incorporated solar panels into their veggie fields. It's called "agrivoltaics" and it's one way to marry clean energy with food production. In other words, we can have both solar installations AND food production on the same land!
Yes, agrivoltaics is a good combination but it's not yet popular for an assortment of reasons. I live in a rural county where a large solar farm was just approved. The property's owner retired after 45 years of farming. He sold the property to a solar company because he couldn't find a buyer to farm it. Yet in my region, we have younger people who want to farm but can't afford the skyrocketing price of land. A forward thinking arrangement would be to ensure family farms, regional production of food, and energy production continue. This article from High Country News highlights some of the issues around promoting agrivoltaics. https://www.hcn.org/articles/why-isnt-agrivoltaics-taking-off-in-arizona/