Diversifying Revenue With Alternative Energy

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Farmers and ranchers are facing growing economic pressure, and many are searching for new ways to keep their operations viable. Some might consider alternative revenue sources like partnering with an energy company such as solar or wind. Caprock Renewables co-founder Raina Hornaday is also a fifth generation rancher. She says agrivoltaics are starting to move beyond just using sheep to keep the underbrush clear.

Hornaday… “ Sheep under solar could be part of the agrivoltaic story. And it is. But there's a lot of research going on in Texas and other places on growing a high producing actual crops under solar and how that impacts moisture, how it impacts just the plant with the shading, it's good. So as soon as some of this research comes out on a larger scale, then people can justify actually spacing. We need more spacing for if you're gonna run a baler in between solar, which does happen and has happened. So this is where this agrivoltaic, solar, and farming can coexist.”

Hornaday recommends landowners check out American Farmland Trust’s Smart Solar Program for more information.