Kim Kraska | Harvesting the sun: How solar energy is revolutionising farming

Solar is most famous for being a planet-saving addition to the roof of your home. But it can help us meet our growing energy needs while creating a pathway to a clean energy future for us all. Which is why in just a decade, solar has skyrocketed from generating just 0.57 per cent of the world’s energy to 5.52 per cent in 2023. This near ten-fold rise, paired with decreased production costs, makes solar an increasingly reliable and affordable energy option.

Here are key ways that solar energy is revolutionising farming practices around the world.

1. Agrivoltaics: powering farms and protecting crops

Agrivoltaics is the practice of combining solar energy generation and crop cultivation. Here’s how –heat stress is a major threat to heat-sensitive plants like cereal, but the shade provided by solar panels allows crops to thrive and for farmers to maximise their product. Combining solar and growing crops is gaining global momentum, and is already being used in Germany by farmers who are using solar panels to create shade for their orchards.

Research in Africa showed that solar panels shade crops from the extreme droughts and heat waves that are becoming more prevalent there due to climate change. This system produces clean energy, as well as more favourable growing conditions for crops, making it a win-win for both the environment and farmers.

2. Providing shade for livestock

Solar panels are not just beneficial shade providers for crops, animals too are feeling the heat. Farmers are increasingly installing solar panels over grazing areas to provide shade for sheep and cattle. The shaded areas help them stay cool during the summer months, and helps sheep reduce their wool surface temperature by as much as 50 degree Fahrenheit! Happier, healthier animals can lead to higher productivity, and maximise the efficiency of farms.

Plus let’s not forget that a single cattle farts enough to release over 200 pounds of methane every year! With methane’s warming power being 28 times greater than carbon dioxide, supplying enough beef to meet global demand is accelerating climate change. Luckily, solar panels on farms can help the meat industry become more climate friendly, as a farmer can harvest enough clean power to offset methane emissions from a cow with just 4.1 square metres of solar panels.

3. Innovative water-collection systems

Farming consumes a lot of water. Making water management a critical issue for most farmers, especially in areas facing periods of drought or inconsistent rainfall.

Solar offers farmers the opportunity to find ingenious ways to collect and conserve water. One innovative off-gridder in Arizona has used his existing solar energy set up to conserve rainwater. With the average temperature of Phoenix in July reaching a whopping 106 degrees Fahrenheit, he found a simple way to save on his water bill by using his solar panels as funnels to direct run of water into basins that are positioned on the ground beneath the solar panels. Rain runs off the solar panels and collects in these basins, for when he needs it. By not relying on expensive water or energy infrastructure, he is able to be self-sustaining. Bigger farms can use similar collection techniques to redirect collected rainwater to thirsty crops.

A study in Jordan showed promising results, with 444 litres of water collected off of just four square metres of solar panels over two months. Every litre collected is a litre that does not have to be paid for or transported to the farm. Water-collection systems like this make solar panels do double duty and save farmers money by taking advantage of rainy seasons to collect and store water for when it is needed most.

4. Pollinator gardens in solar fields

Pollinator gardens are an essential part of every healthy ecosystem. But our precious pollinators are being lost at shocking rates, with bee populations decreasing by 60 per cent over just 15 years.

One of the major drivers of this loss is climate change, which will only worsen if we don’t transition away from climate-killing fossil fuels to renewable, clean energy. The second major threat that pollinators face is habitat loss.

Many people’s concerns with solar fields is that they create wasted land where nothing grows. But solar farms do not need to be barren fields of panels. In fact, they benefit from vegetation and ground cover, which lowers ground temperature, maximising solar efficiency.

Solar farms across the country are being turned into vibrant ecosystems that benefit local wildlife and farming communities. Creating unlikely pollinator garden habitats that combat wildflower meadow losses caused by human development and which in turn has devastated bee numbers. In Minnesota, for example, pollinator-friendly gardens are being planted underneath and around solar panels.

5. Diversifying farm income

By growing pollinator-friendly plants in solar fields, farmers can boost biodiversity, improve crop yields, and support local ecosystems. Thereby tackling both of the major threats to pollinators: climate change and habitat loss.

With the increasing variability of weather and the fragility of monoculture farming, farmers can be financially devastated if just one year’s crops doesn’t produce the expected yield.

As a result, farmers have to choose between low–yield drought-resistant crops or increased yield volatility. Neither option is good for the farmer, as one crop has lower overall potential and the other crop risks ending up with no yield at all. Farmers are increasingly diversifying to keep their profit margins stable, with many farming blogs recommending that farms open themselves up to tourism and field trips.

Solar energy can be another source of additional income, acting as a solar profit safety net for farmers, so they do not have to live yield-to-yield. Farmers are turning their solar panels into a revenue-generating asset by selling the excess energy they produce back to the grid.

In some cases, solar power can provide enough energy to power entire communities. One solar-powered farm in Boulder, Colorado supplies electricity to over 300 homes! This creates a new income stream for the farmer and contributes to the local community’s energy needs in a planet friendly way!

Solar energy and agriculture are proving their relationship is a mutually-beneficial one. As technology improves and more farmers adopt solar solutions, we can expect to see even more innovative applications emerge. Solar energy is ushering in a new era of sustainable agriculture.

Kim Kraska is a media intern at EARTHDAY.ORG; this article has been reproduced from EARTHDAY.ORG blog. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com