There has been a fair amount of oversell in some circles about the prospects for combining agriculture and solar production on the same land.
While, as illustrated above, certain practices like sheep grazing and honey production are an easy and natural fit, growing a wider range of traditional crops is a challenge because of a mismatch between the nuts and bolts of solar panels and the requirements of most large farm and harvesting equipment.
Often missing from the discussion is a recognition that one very valuable agricultural process is the null solution, which is, land that is “doing nothing” has an essential value for rebuilding soil, recharging aquifers, hosting native plants and pollinators, small mammals, ground nesting birds, and restoring the bottom of the food web in a way that benefits critters all the way up the chain.
Still, as the video above shows, a significant amount is being done, at least on the sheep side, which seems like a win-win.
Below, scientists and farmers present the case for resting the land with solar.
Below, a video that is a bit on the cheerleading side, but makes enough good points about the possible synergies between solar and ag, that it’s worth a look.
On the small scale, solar can advantage growers by shielding crops from weather extremes of sun or rain, help with pest management, and with soil improvement efforts, but most of the efforts are on the scale of lab and university experiments thus far.
[Testing….]