{"id":7179,"date":"2022-05-02T09:48:14","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T13:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=7179"},"modified":"2025-08-23T17:42:56","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T21:42:56","slug":"phasing-out-fossil-fuels-the-impact-on-maine-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2022\/05\/02\/phasing-out-fossil-fuels-the-impact-on-maine-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Phasing Out Fossil Fuels: The Impact on Maine Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>Maine is 13 percent farmland. The rest is heavily forested or rocky coastline. The state recently set sights on clean energy by 2030. Solar development has gathered steam as a means for phasing out fossil fuels. But at what cost?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Solar power requires a large, open land base. This makes farmland a prime target. Some farmers find appeal in the passive income and reduced energy costs promised by solar. Others consider solar with caution.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Solar Panels on a Sunny Day in Maine. Photo courtesy of ReVision Energy.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The term \u201cagrivoltaics\u201d is the practice of using land for solar and crops or grazing at the same time. Jeremy Payne is the executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association. He held a position on the solar stakeholder group. The stakeholder group sited solar projects that protected and aligned with farming. He said, \u201cStriking that balance between solar growth and traditional farming is an important one to get right.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Teresa and Henry Hardy operate a multi-generational organic dairy farm in Farmington, Maine. They received letters in the mail about solar energy contracts. Every agricultural fair they attended had more developers present. The demand for farmland is in as solar projects dot the horizon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hardy said, \u201cThe panels aren\u2019t built or installed with green energy. We are told you can graze the ground under the panels. However, I don\u2019t see quality land left. And trimming the weeds and unwanted plants from around those panels is no walk in the park.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Solar Grazing in the Summer Sunshine. Image courtesy of Crescent Run Farm.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While Maine seeks clean energy, farmers decide the best course of action. Hardy said, \u201cTo me, there is a double-edged sword. What will happen after the contracts are up with this useless land? It will not be good to grow crops. It will take years to get this land back to what it was.\u201d Solar projects may offset energy costs. They may provide passive income. But what happens to the land and the material waste?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Payne said, \u201cEvery single energy source has an environmental impact of some sort. But it is undeniable that renewables have far less of a footprint than fossil fuels. I do believe we will see more efforts take hold in the coming years. Things like solar panel recycling.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Maine has enabled solar projects across the state to meet renewable energy goals. Balancing energy with agriculture remains an ongoing process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Maine is 13 percent farmland. The rest is heavily forested or rocky coastline. The state recently set sights on clean energy by 2030. Solar development has gathered steam as a means for phasing out fossil fuels. But at what cost? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Solar power requires a large, open land base. This makes farmland a prime target. Some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8147,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7179\/revisions\/8147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}