Solar Harvest Coming to a Field Near You

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By John Dietz, SuccessfulFarming. 

Excerpt: Agrivoltaics, a relatively new term, unites cropping practices and solar panels on the same fields. ...Well-established programs exist throughout Europe, as well as in Japan and China. “Agrivoltaics has emerged as a formal pillar of the energy plan for countries with scarce farmland, including France, Germany, and Italy,” Winter explains. It’s catch-up time in North America. ...[Joshua] Pearce calls agrivoltaics in North America “a slam dunk” opportunity. “A few percent of agricultural land in the U.S. could power the entire country,” he asserts. ...In his latest research paper, Pearce posits that as little as 1% of Canadian farmland could provide a quarter to a third of Canada’s electrical energy needs. ...“You can increase the yield for your crop if you do it right ,” he said in an interview. “You do get more food, and you get the added revenue of the solar. [That’s] why agrivoltaics is growing like crazy in the whole world.” ...Annual academic agrivoltaics conferences have begun in the United States (agrivoltaics-conference.org) and Canada (agrivoltaicscanada.ca).... 

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