{"id":4132,"date":"2025-08-06T01:48:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T09:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/?p=4132"},"modified":"2025-07-16T11:52:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T19:52:48","slug":"reprint-california-farms-solar-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/2025\/08\/06\/reprint-california-farms-solar-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Reprint: California Farms Solar Power"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This article is reprinted from\u00a0<em>The Conversation.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"theconversation-article-title\">California farmers identify a hot new cash crop: Solar\u00a0power<\/h2>\n<div class=\"theconversation-article-body\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679923\/original\/file-20250714-56-84t3br.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;rect=0%2C634%2C5195%2C2922&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" \/><figcaption>This dairy farm in California\u2019s Central Valley has installed solar panels on a portion of its land.<br \/>\n<span class=\"attribution\"><a class=\"source\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/dairy-farm-is-viewed-from-above-on-april-13-in-visalia-news-photo\/1482426028\">George Rose\/Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/jacob-stid-2420819\">Jacob Stid<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/michigan-state-university-1349\">Michigan State University<\/a><\/em>; <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/annick-anctil-2420821\">Annick Anctil<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/michigan-state-university-1349\">Michigan State University<\/a><\/em>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/anthony-kendall-2420820\">Anthony Kendall<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/michigan-state-university-1349\">Michigan State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Imagine that you own a small, 20-acre farm in California\u2019s Central Valley. You and your family have cultivated this land for decades, but <a href=\"https:\/\/ca.water.usgs.gov\/projects\/central-valley\/index.html\">drought<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dtnpf.com\/agriculture\/web\/ag\/crops\/article\/2023\/07\/31\/farmers-know-production-costs-higher\">increasing costs<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/ca.water.usgs.gov\/projects\/central-valley\/index.html\">decreasing water availability<\/a> are making each year more difficult.<\/p>\n<p>Now imagine that a solar-electricity developer approaches you and presents three options:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You can lease the developer 10 acres of otherwise productive cropland, on which the developer will build an array of solar panels and sell electricity to the local power company.<\/li>\n<li>You can select 1 or 2 acres of your land on which to build and operate your own solar array, using some electricity for your farm and selling the rest to the utility.<\/li>\n<li>Or you can keep going as you have been, hoping your farm can somehow survive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thousands of farmers across the country, including in the Central Valley, are choosing one of the first two options. A 2022 survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture found that <a href=\"https:\/\/quickstats.nass.usda.gov\/results\/66429C9C-97C6-3928-BB31-96CC59954A87\">roughly 117,000 U.S. farm operations<\/a> have some type of solar device. Our own work has identified <a href=\"https:\/\/www.proquest.com\/openview\/d7dc465e02966c4e16c237eae4e10e31\/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&amp;cbl=18750&amp;diss=y\">over 6,500 solar arrays<\/a> currently located on U.S. farmland.<\/p>\n<p>Our study of nearly 1,000 solar arrays built on 10,000 acres of the Central Valley over the past two decades found that solar power and farming are <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41893-025-01546-4\">complementing each other<\/a> in farmers\u2019 business operations. As a result, farmers are making and saving more money while using less water \u2013 helping them keep their land and livelihood.<\/p>\n<h2>A hotter, drier and more built-up future<\/h2>\n<p>Perhaps nowhere in the U.S. is farmland more valuable or more productive than California\u2019s Central Valley. The region grows a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fresnobee.com\/news\/local\/article291737460.html\">vast array of crops<\/a>, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fsa.usda.gov\/Internet\/FSA_File\/10cafacts_v3.pdf\">nearly all of the nation\u2019s production<\/a> of almonds, olives and sweet rice. Using less than 1% of all farmland in the country, the Central Valley supplies <a href=\"https:\/\/ca.water.usgs.gov\/projects\/central-valley\/about-central-valley.html\">a quarter of the nation\u2019s food<\/a>, including 40% of its fruits, nuts and other fresh foods.<\/p>\n<p>The food, fuel and fiber that these farms produce are a bedrock of the nation\u2019s economy, food system and way of life.<\/p>\n<p>But decades of intense cultivation, urban development and climate change are squeezing farmers. Water is limited, and getting more so: A state law passed in 2014 requires farmers to further <a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/CA\/text\/AB1739\/id\/1045373\">reduce their water usage by the mid-2040s<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center zoomable\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679928\/original\/file-20250714-56-lr8tia.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679928\/original\/file-20250714-56-lr8tia.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679928\/original\/file-20250714-56-lr8tia.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679928\/original\/file-20250714-56-lr8tia.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679928\/original\/file-20250714-56-lr8tia.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679928\/original\/file-20250714-56-lr8tia.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679928\/original\/file-20250714-56-lr8tia.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679928\/original\/file-20250714-56-lr8tia.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\" alt=\"Workers on farmland with mountains in the background.\" \/><\/a><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">California\u2019s Central Valley is some of the most productive cropland in the country.<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"attribution\"><a class=\"source\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/farmworkers-on-farm-near-bakersfield-kern-county-california-news-photo\/1379448501\">Citizen of the Planet\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>The trade-offs of installing solar on agricultural land<\/h2>\n<p>When the solar arrays we studied were installed, California state <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.cpuc.ca.gov\/PublishedDocs\/Published\/G000\/M158\/K181\/158181678.pdf\">solar energy policy<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.leginfo.ca.gov\/pub\/11-12\/bill\/sen\/sb_0601-0650\/sb_618_bill_20111008_chaptered.pdf\">incentives<\/a> gave farm landowners new ways to diversify their income by either leasing their land for solar arrays or building their own.<\/p>\n<p>There was an obvious trade-off: Turning land used for crops to land used for solar usually means losing agricultural production. We estimated that over the 25-year life of the solar arrays, this land would have produced enough food to feed 86,000 people a year, assuming they <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ers.usda.gov\/data-products\/food-consumption-nutrient-intakes-and-diet-quality\/summary-findings\">eat 2,000 calories a day<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There was an obvious benefit, too, of clean energy: These arrays produced enough renewable electricity to power 470,000 U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/energyexplained\/use-of-energy\/electricity-use-in-homes.php\">households every year<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But the result we were hoping to identify and measure was the economic effect of shifting that land from agricultural farming to solar farming. We found that farmers who installed solar were dramatically better off than those who did not.<\/p>\n<p>They were better off in two ways, the first being financially. All the farmers, whether they owned their own arrays or leased their land to others, saved money on seeds, fertilizer and other costs associated with growing and harvesting crops. They also earned money from leasing the land, offsetting farm energy bills, and selling their excess electricity.<\/p>\n<p>Farmers who owned their own arrays had to pay for the panels, equipment and installation, and maintenance. But even after covering those costs, their savings and earnings added up to US$50,000 per acre of profits every year, 25 times the amount they would have earned by planting that acre.<\/p>\n<p>Farmers who leased their land made much less money but still avoided costs for irrigation water and operations on that part of their farm, gaining $1,100 per acre per year \u2013 with no up-front costs.<\/p>\n<p>The farmers also conserved water, which in turn supported compliance with the state\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/legiscan.com\/CA\/text\/AB1739\/id\/1045373\">Sustainable Groundwater Management Act<\/a> water use reduction requirements. Most of the solar arrays were installed on land that had previously been irrigated. We calculated that turning off irrigation on this land saved enough water every year to supply about 27 million people with drinking water or irrigate 7,500 acres of orchards. Following solar array installation, some farmers also fallowed surrounding land, perhaps enabled by the new stable income stream, which further reduced water use.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"align-center zoomable\"><a href=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679926\/original\/file-20250714-56-rj6gw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679926\/original\/file-20250714-56-rj6gw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679926\/original\/file-20250714-56-rj6gw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679926\/original\/file-20250714-56-rj6gw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679926\/original\/file-20250714-56-rj6gw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=400&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679926\/original\/file-20250714-56-rj6gw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679926\/original\/file-20250714-56-rj6gw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/679926\/original\/file-20250714-56-rj6gw9.jpg?ixlib=rb-4.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=503&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w\" alt=\"A view of farmland with irrigation sprinklers spraying widely.\" \/><\/a><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Irrigation is key to cropland productivity in California\u2019s Central Valley. Covering some land with solar panels eliminates the need for irrigation of that area, saving water for other uses elsewhere.<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"attribution\"><a class=\"source\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/crops-being-irrigated-near-bakersfield-kern-county-news-photo\/1379447422\">Citizen of the Planet\/UCG\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Changes to food and energy production<\/h2>\n<p>Farmers in the Central Valley and elsewhere are now cultivating both food and energy. This shift can offer long-term security for farmland owners, particularly for those who install and run their own arrays.<\/p>\n<p>Recent estimates suggest that <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2024.173872\">converting between 1.1% and 2.4%<\/a> of the country\u2019s farmland to solar arrays would, along with other clean energy sources, generate enough electricity to eliminate the nation\u2019s need for fossil fuel power plants.<\/p>\n<p>Though many crops are part of a global market that can adjust to changes in supply, losing this farmland could affect the availability of some crops. Fortunately, farmers and landowners are finding new ways to protect farmland and food security while supporting clean energy.<\/p>\n<p>One such approach is <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.nrel.gov\/docs\/fy22osti\/83566.pdf\">agrivoltaics<\/a>, where farmers install solar designed for grazing livestock or growing crops beneath the panels. Solar can also be sited on <a href=\"https:\/\/farmlandinfo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/01\/NY-Smart-Solar-Siting-on-Farmland_FINAL-REPORT_1.31.22.pdf\">less productive farmland<\/a> or on farmland that is used for <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.2501605122\">biofuels rather than food production<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Even in these areas, arrays can be <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41559-023-02174-x\">designed and managed<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.org\/content\/dam\/tnc\/nature\/en\/documents\/2023SolarGuidanceTNCNC.pdf\">benefit local agriculture and natural ecosystems<\/a>. With <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/how-shading-crops-with-solar-panels-can-improve-farming-lower-food-costs-and-reduce-emissions-202094\">thoughtful design<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1073\/pnas.2501605122\">siting and management<\/a>, solar can <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/solar-power-occupies-a-lot-of-space-heres-how-to-make-it-more-ecologically-beneficial-to-the-land-it-sits-on-216423\">give back to the land<\/a> and the ecosystems it touches.<\/p>\n<p>Farms are much more than the land they occupy and the goods they produce. Farms are run by people with families, whose well-being depends on essential and variable resources such as water, fertilizer, fuel, electricity and crop sales. Farmers often <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalaglawcenter.org\/show-me-the-money-a-primer-on-agricultural-lending\/\">borrow money during the planting season<\/a> in hopes of making enough at harvest time to pay off the debt and keep a little profit.<\/p>\n<p>Installing solar on their land can give farmers a diversified income, help them save water, and reduce the risk of bad years. That can make solar an asset to farming, not a threat to the food supply.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/259653\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/jacob-stid-2420819\">Jacob Stid<\/a>, Ph.D. student in Hydrogeology, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/michigan-state-university-1349\">Michigan State University<\/a><\/em>; <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/annick-anctil-2420821\">Annick Anctil<\/a>, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/michigan-state-university-1349\">Michigan State University<\/a><\/em>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/anthony-kendall-2420820\">Anthony Kendall<\/a>, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/michigan-state-university-1349\">Michigan State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article is republished from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/california-farmers-identify-a-hot-new-cash-crop-solar-power-259653\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article is reprinted from\u00a0The Conversation. California farmers identify a hot new cash crop: Solar\u00a0power This dairy farm in California\u2019s Central Valley has installed solar panels on a portion of its land. George Rose\/Getty Images Jacob Stid, Michigan State University; Annick Anctil, Michigan State University, and Anthony Kendall, Michigan State University Imagine that you own [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,48,14,181,363],"tags":[1096,311,1095],"class_list":["post-4132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-future","category-nature","category-nonfiction","category-science","category-technology","tag-clean-energy","tag-climate-change","tag-solar-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4132"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4134,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4132\/revisions\/4134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/treehousewriters.com\/wp53\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}