Solar power is on the rise. In the last decade alone, solar has skyrocketed from generating 0.57% of the world’s energy to 5.52%. 

As it’s become increasingly used in tech, retail, and manufacturing sectors, solar adoption has also seen a huge leap in the world of agriculture. 

Through dual land use, farmers can continue crop production or livestock grazing as they generate solar energy, all while shading crops and cattle, collecting rainwater, and boosting pollination. 

“Climate change threatens our finite food, energy, and water resources,” Jacob Stid, a renewable energy landscape scientist at Michigan State University, wrote in a recent Nature Sustainability study. 

“To address these threats by transitioning towards net-zero carbon emissions energy systems, new energy installations should be designed while considering effects on the complete food, energy, and water nexus.”

“The rapid expansion of solar photovoltaic electricity generation is a key part of the solution that will need to grow more than tenfold in the United States by 2050 to meet net-zero goal.” 

While carefully weighing the “multifaceted outcomes” of agrisolar implementation throughout the California Central Valley, Stud went on to explain how fruitful solar farming can be for farmers’ wallets. 

In all, Stid and his team calculated “a net positive economic footprint” amounting to an annual total of $124,000 per hectare (roughly two and a half acres). 

That amount is 25 times higher than the income generated by using the same land solely to produce food. 

The study said that agrisolar’s overall profitability was “dominated by [net energy metering, or NEM],” “offset electricity costs," and lucrative “surplus energy” — which can be sold back to the grid. 

“If a farmer owns 10 acres of land, and they choose to convert one or two acres to a solar array, that could produce enough income for them to feel security for their whole operation,” Stid said. 

Stid estimated that the energy generated from solar panels in the Central Valley could power roughly 500,000 households per year, while also saving enough water to hydrate 27 million people.

The Michigan State University scientist invited more research into agrisolar studies, while noting that the benefits of using solar practices vary from region to region. 

“Adjacent agrisolar replacement with barren or unused ground cover still falls short of the full potential of ecovoltaic and agrivoltaic multifunctionality,” Stid explained. 

“However, the regional resource and economic co-benefits of replacing irrigated land in water-stressed regions with solar photovoltaic here cannot be ignored.” 

Stid points out in his study that growing agrisolar practices have caused a drop in food production, but he argues that the markets can adjust as crops are produced in other regions —  especially ones that aren’t riddled by ongoing drought. 

And, Stid reminds readers, many farmers have opted for dual land use — installing solar panels while using the majority of their land for crops and livestock. 

Colorado State University horticulturalist Jennifer Bousselot weighed in on the study, telling Grist: “This is the compromise that’s going to allow for both energy independence and food security.”

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Header image via Henry Be / Unplash