There’s a lot of concern about converting fertile farms to solar farms. Over 15 percent of US counties have put in place policies to ban or hinder solar or wind farms. But that might be short-sighted. I agree we should avoid replacing farmland with solar, but increasingly we’re figuring out how they can coexist. You can have your peaches and power too.
Talbott’s peach farm in Colorado is showing how it can be done. The panels are set above the tree canopy and can be tilted to ensure the trees get the right amount of sunlight to produce their juicy crop. The electricity will power their packing and processing plant. The panels will also help protect the crop from Colorado’s famous hail and frosts.
Agrivoltaic technology is also beginning to branch out into human food crops, with an assist from the Biden administration. One recent example is a grant of $713,000 to the Colorado peach farm Talbott Farms. The grant is one of 473 projects in a massive, $100 million round of loans and grants funding through the USDA REAP program, covering a long (very long) list of various energy-related projects.
https://cleantechnica.com/2024/07/11/peaches-grapes-the-agrivoltaic-farm-of-the-future/
Darcy Hitchcock 
Hi, Darcy,I’m enjoying your daily missives; they do provide good news and hope for a more sustainab