As U.S. farmers grapple with soaring debt and slumping incomes, some crop producers are trading their tractors for flocks of sheep, and starting up solar grazing businesses to help make ends meet.
Tag Archives Solar power
Sheep grazing under solar panels help US farmers to survive crop-price slump
How farmers can use solar power without damaging the rest of their operation
Agrivoltaics can mitigate a main criticism of solar power - that it wastes farmland
One approach to decarbonizing the agricultural sector is agrivoltaics. It involves integrating solar panels; or photovoltaics (PVs); into fields of crops, greenhouses and livestock areas, which can help farmers reduce their carbon footprint while continuing to produce food.
Solar dry, soldier fly, AI: Africans fight hunger with innovation
Alongside container farms in South Africa cultivating soldier flies for animal feed, solar-powered fish and crop dryers in Tanzania and machine-learning pest detectors in Kenya, Africans are coming up with innovative solutions to overcome the effects of climate change on food production.
What are agrivoltaics — and can they generate money?
Ten sites are being tested next year in Ontario; proponents say better policies could help solar
Canada’s pastures and cropland are prime sites for the mass deployment of solar energy infrastructure, according to advocates of agrivoltaics – a term used to describe the simultaneous use of land for solar energy and food production. The use of solar panels on buildings, in pastures and in other areas of working farms is not new. Solar farms
Manitoba a difficult place to sell solar power
Since the end of a Manitoba Hydro rebate program, interest in solar energy has dwindled despite ample opportunity for growth, says a Winnipeg contractor
Solar energy remains a largely untapped resource in southwestern Manitoba, and few incentives exist to boost public interest, says one contractor. Manitoba has become a “very difficult place to sell and install solar,” Daniel Lacovetsky said during Manitoba Sustainable Energy Association’s (ManSEA) virtual conference on March 23. Lacovetsky and business partner Jacob Kettner own Powertec
Otterburne dairy is Manitoba’s largest solar-powered farm
The off-grid option has upfront costs but locks in energy costs for the foreseeable future
A southern Manitoba dairy is just days away from flipping the switch on the largest solar-powered farm in Manitoba. Optimist Holsteins Ltd. near Otterburne is in final stages of setting up a newly installed 175-kilowatt, solar photovoltaic (PV) system. When operational it will begin producing enough power to meet all the farm’s electrical needs while
Beyond the dugout: The making of a watering system
Manitoba Beef and Forage Initiatives is testing the waters on a solar-powered pump system in both continuous and rotational grazing
Dugouts aren’t always ideal, and farmers who run rotational grazing or lack surface water are looking for options to get their herd a drink. For many, that means pipelines, although designing the details may quickly become complex. Will the system draw on nearby open water? Will it be piped from a yard site or pumped
Watering cattle with solar power
Producers give solar-powered watering systems top marks despite their ups and downs
It’s been five years since Doug Northam traded in his sloughs for solar, and the Rapid City producer gives his remote watering system glowing reviews. “Around here we don’t have any wells or anything, so the cows just drink out of the sloughs and when they dry back a bit they tend to be three
Manitoba sunshine brightens solar power opportunities
Many hours of sunshine make power generation possible even in the dead of winter
Justin Phillips doesn’t mince his words: If you’re a Manitoba farmer, the time to invest in solar power is right now. The Winnipeg-based businessman helped pioneer the solar industry in Manitoba and has watched Manitoba Hydro kick-start the industry to unexpected heights via a farmer-friendly pilot program that has one year left on it. That
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
