Trump Must Absolutely Love Solar Panels, Because They Help Farmers

A large solar project in northwest Indiana is showing how farms and solar panels can share the same land, an approach known as agrivoltaics. The Mammoth solar plant, built by Doral Renewables on land leased from more than 65 families in Starke and Pulaski counties, just finished its last 900-megawatt phase, bringing the total project to 1.3 gigawatts. Rather than taking farmland out of use entirely, the site hosts about 2,000 grazing animals, including sheep, donkeys, alpacas, and small pigs, which keep vegetation down around the panels and cut the need for mowing equipment. Supporters say the land can go back to full farming use once the panels are eventually removed.

Doral and Purdue University have also formed a research partnership called Midwest Agrivoltaics for Resilient Communities, which is studying how combining solar power with farming can help rural areas handle storms, heat, and power outages while giving landowners another source of income. A similar Doral project in Wisconsin is expected to let more than 50 wells shut down, reducing water use and chemical runoff from fertilizer and pesticides.

Federal support for this kind of farm solar has gotten more complicated. The Agriculture Department recently tightened rules on the Rural Energy for America loan and grant program in ways that make it harder for solar projects to qualify, and two environmental groups have sued over the change. For homeowners, this is mainly a window into how solar and land use are evolving in farm country, not a program tied to home upgrades.