No one is farming this land, and in many cases, no one is stewarding it. As a result, it does very little. That should concern anyone who cares about maximizing the use of limited American farmland.
As a soil scientist, I have spent my career working at the intersection of farming and solar energy. I have conducted agrivoltaics research (before the field had a name) and helped developers and farmers figure out how to make these sites function as farms. Over and over, I have noticed a costly impulse to ignore the land beneath the panels.
The U.S. added nearly 27 gigawatts of utility-scale solar capacity in 2025 alone. Behind every gigawatt are thousands of acres, mostly rural, of formerly farmed and still farmable land.
Because solar development is a fast-growing source of farmland conversion, and most of that development is happening on land leased from farm families, how that land is managed will shape its agricultural potential for generations.
Rather than neglecting the land beneath the panels, as often happens, solar developers need to treat it as a working agricultural system. This means seeking early advice from an agronomist, or a crop production and soil health expert, to help with site management.
“Rather than neglecting the land beneath the panels, solar developers need to treat it as a working agricultural system.”
It might also mean monitoring; designing multi-use vegetation for pollinators and livestock grazing or building partnerships with farmers that last the life of the project.
We have limited land, and we should use it well.
When the land beneath large-scale solar projects is managed like this, as a system of soil, plants, and water, the benefits compound: the soil becomes healthier, water movement improves, and reliable plants thrive.
In many scenarios, the current landowner or operator has the opportunity to raise crops or graze livestock and generate additional income. If they no longer wish to farm, someone else, perhaps a new or beginning farmer, could gain relatively affordable access to the land.
Before our soils degrade further, communities and policymakers need to implement the wealth of management guidance that is readily available, and make solar development a part of the future of American agriculture, not the end of it.
Broccoli grows under an array at Joe Czajkowski Farm, a partnership project with Hyperion Systems, in Hadley, Massachusetts. (Photo courtesy of Hyperion Systems)
The country needs more solar infrastructure to produce clean, renewable energy and combat the climate crisis. We also need to protect our farmland, which is disappearing at an alarming rate. These two goals do not have to conflict; they can support one another.
When the solar industry incorporates agricultural management into its projects, it benefits in multiple ways. A recent survey found that rural Americans are significantly more supportive of solar when it delivers real agricultural benefits to their regions.
Projects with farming or grazing around solar installations, also known as agrivoltaics, enjoyed 14 percent more support among rural Americans. Native plantings under panels increased support by about 17 percent.
This support matters. Projects that earn community trust get permitted faster, face less opposition, and operate with less friction.
Agriculture stands to gain just as much. With American farmland rapidly disappearing, the average farmer approaching 60, and the economics of agriculture making it harder every year for the next generation to get started, solar lease payments can help operations stay viable.
Conventional solar development makes land access harder for beginning farmers, but when agronomy is built into projects, solar actually creates farming opportunities, rather than eliminating them. Solar grazing gives beginning farmers access to land they cannot afford to own, and lease payments help existing operations stay viable.
But the opportunity goes beyond that. Agronomic land management builds soil health, increases biodiversity, and can draw more pollinators to neighboring fields. Even on sites without active agriculture, good management keeps the land farmable for future generations.
