Earlier this month, our farm team at Big River Farms was recognized for its pilot project exploring agrivoltaics — the practice of farming under and around solar panels. We were nominated for this work by our partners at National Resource Service and proudly accepted the award for Solar Farm of the Year at the Solar Farm Summit in Chicago!
We’re excited to be part of this national movement and a leader in Minnesota exploring farming and production on solar fields, which has the potential to support both emerging farmers and local food production The Food Group is currently piloting agrivoltaics work in Big Lake, MN in collaboration with US Solar for annual vegetable production viability as well as in Ramsey, MN in collaboration with Connexus Energy for perennial production viability.
With the pilot now entering its second year, we’re learning more about the potential to scale and grow the impact of this project at additional locations, and we see great potential for agrivoltaics to be transformative in creating land access for emerging farmers. After graduating from our program, many of our farmers experience barriers to finding affordable, long-term land leases, and partnering on agrivoltaics projects could open more doors and help them gain access to high-quality farmland, thereby creating a more robust local food system.
We’re grateful to our many partners who are in this together with us and committed to exploring the potential of agrivoltaics. In addition to US Solar and Connexus Energy, we also collaborate with NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), The University of Minnesota, Great Plains Institute for Research, and MN Department of Agriculture, as well as farm partners Sarah Woutat, Simion, and Stephen.
With the help of these partners, we’re learning more and more about the viability of agrivoltaics and what crops best thrive on solar farms, and we can’t wait to see what kinds of future possibilities this project has in store!
Learn More About Our Agrivoltaics Work:
- Harvesting the Sun — National Center for Appropriate Technology’s AgriSolar Clearinghouse
- Mixing Solar and Farming Could Be Key to Clean Energy Future — MPR News
- Solar Farmland Access: Emerging Farmers 2024 Award Video Feature — Environmental Initiative
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