As solar capacity grows, some of America's most productive farmland is at risk
As solar capacity grows, some of America's most productive farmland is at risk
Dave Duttlinger's first thought when he saw a dense band of yellowish-brown dust smearing the sky above his Indiana farm was: I warned them this would happen. About 445 acres of his fields near Wheatfield, Indiana, are covered in solar panels and related machinery – land that in April 2019 Duttlinger leased to Dunns Bridge Solar LLC, for one of the largest solar developments in the Midwest.
On that blustery spring afternoon in 2022, Duttlinger said, his phone rang with questions from frustrated neighbors: Why is dust from your farm inside my truck? Inside my house? Who should I call to clean it up?
According to Duttlinger's solar lease, reviewed by Reuters, Dunns Bridge said it would use "commercially reasonable efforts to minimize any damage to and disturbance of growing crops and crop land caused by its construction activities" outside the project site and "not remove topsoil" from the property itself. Still, sub-contractors graded Duttlinger's fields to assist the building of roads and installation of posts and panels, he said, despite his warnings that it could make the land more vulnerable to erosion.
"I'll never be able to grow anything on that field again," the farmer said. About one-third of his approximately 1,200-acre farm – where his family grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa for cattle – has been leased.
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“I’ll never be able to grow anything on that field again,” the farmer said. About one-third of his approximately 1,200-acre farm – where his family grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa for cattle – has been leased.
Got bad news for you, dude. You are making your field unfarmable.
That has nothing to do with solar farms, that has to do with farmers in America not giving a shit about doing things sustainably.
How many acres of this guy's farm do you think he lets lie fallow? Enough to replenish the soil? Or does he try to maximize his harvest every year by using as much of his land as possible?
But no, the problem is the solar farms. Totally.
So this article mentions this Indiana dude as an anecdote and then talks about Reuters discussing this with experts who then tell them whatever data they do have (which they don’t share in the article?) is too small to make any conclusions from.
This article seems bad. What’s the mechanism of erosion that solar farms threaten? Construction seemed to be their only explanation, but that’s not exclusive to solar farm. This almost reads like environmentalism fearmongering
It's not only construction. It's also about having windbreaks (ie: hedgerows, small clumps or full lines of bushy trees, etc) that stop the soil from blowing away in the wind.
I know this because I grew up on the Canadian prairies where backhoes yearly dig up all the topsoil that's accumulated in the ditches, which the farmers then respread on their fields.
There are a lot more windbreaks now than when I was a child.
If only there was some sort of manmade structures that could act as a windbreak while also producing electricity, that would an amazing advancement...
Why would a farmer spend money on building a structure when trees will grow freely at minimal cost?
Smdh
Because it produces usable electricity for the farmer.
A wind turbine is not a wind break.
What do windmills have anything to do with solar panels? Don't try to change the subject...
I misunderstood you then.
What kind of structure would you have the farmer spend money to build then?
The same thing we've been talking about this whole time...solar panels.
Dave Duttlinger's first thought when he saw a dense band of yellowish-brown dust smearing the sky above his Indiana farm was: I warned them this would happen.
The wind picked up the sand the solar power company laid on the property after leveling it.
Crews reshaped the landscape, spreading fine sand across large stretches of rich topsoil, Duttlinger said. When Reuters visited his farm last year and this spring, much of the land beneath the panels was covered in yellow-brown sand, where no plants grew.
So please explain to me how solar panels act as windbreaks.
You mean why would farmers build wind turbines...like they already do and make money from? Is that a serious question?
A wind turbine is not a wind break. Please learn the difference.
My apologies. I thought OP was talking about wind turbines which do help slow down wind, BTW but would not be considered a windbreak. What can be a windbreak though is vertical solar panels which is likely what they were talking about.
I don't know about corn, specifically, but it's been shown that solar panels are actually beneficial and can increase yields: https://www.wired.com/story/growing-crops-under-solar-panels-now-theres-a-bright-idea/
The only mention of corn in that Wired article is a concern for the height (since corn grows tall).
Height, too, is an issue: Corn and wheat would need taller panels, while shrubby soybeans would be fine with a more squat variety.
Thanks to those gaps, crops grown under solar panels aren’t bathed in darkness. But, generally speaking, the light is more diffuse, meaning it’s bouncing off of surfaces before striking the plants. This replicates a natural forest environment, in which all plants, save for the tallest trees, hang out in the shade, soaking up any sunbeams that break through.
I've read similar things about growing crops under solar panels. But even if you couldn't, American farmers are digging their own grave and this guy shouldn't be pointing fingers.
He leased the land knowing what was going to be done with it... If he didn't know, he's either an idiot for not asking, an idiot for not thinking when he saw the opportunity for a cash grab, or an idiot for not reading the lease after it was drawn up.
Either way... Still an idiot. This is entirely on him.
Also, dude's got cattle on 1200 acres(almost 2 miles of land) and looking for more... That's the size of my town and the next town over combined. Not even the slightest bit of sympathy.