Solar Power Without Sacrifice
Protecting Farmland While Advancing Clean Energy
By Ron Dodson
Conservation Lifestyles Newsletter – June 12, 2025
If you’ve driven through rural America recently, you’ve probably noticed a growing trend: fields once planted with corn, hay, or alfalfa now sprouting rows of solar panels instead. On the one hand, this signals progress — a shift away from fossil fuels toward cleaner, renewable energy sources. But for many of us who value sustainable agriculture, the sight can also be unsettling. Are we trading food security for solar power?
As people committed to conservation lifestyles, this is precisely the kind of challenge we must engage with — thoughtfully, practically, and with a long-term vision. The good news is: we don’t have to choose between clean energy and farmland. There are more innovative alternatives.
The Dilemma: Solar vs. Soil
Roughly 2,000 acres of U.S. farmland are lost to development each day — to housing, industry, and yes, now, solar farms. While solar is a critical tool in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, paving over productive farmland with panels can jeopardize local food systems, rural economies, and ecological health.
A true conservation lifestyle means stepping back and asking, “Is there a better way?” And in this case, there is.
Smarter Solar: Alternatives to Farmland Installations
Instead of displacing farmland, we can build solar in places that don’t compromise food production or ecological balance. Here are some of the most promising options:
🏘️ Rooftops (Homes, Schools, Businesses)
We already have millions of acres of rooftops in this country. Solar belongs here first, where it uses no new land, can often be connected directly to the grid, and reduces energy loss during transmission.
🛣️ Highway and Railway Corridors
The spaces along highways and railroads are long, linear, and often unusable for anything else. They’re perfect for solar strips — and they’re already publicly controlled, meaning fewer land-use conflicts.
🧱 Brownfields and Closed Landfills
These previously contaminated or capped sites aren’t suited for farming, but they’re ideal for generating clean energy. Reusing degraded land for solar is a win-win.
🚗 Parking Lots and Garages
Installing solar canopies over parking areas generates energy, provides shade, and doesn’t disturb the landscape. Schools, shopping centers, and stadiums are ideal places to start.
🐑 Agrivoltaics: Sharing Land with Agriculture
In some cases, solar and agriculture can co-exist. Known as agrivoltaics, this method enables grazing livestock beneath solar panels or growing shade-tolerant crops between rows. This dual use can preserve rural economies and provide pollinator habitat too.
🌊 Floating Solar on Water
Reservoirs, canals, and wastewater ponds can host floating solar panels. These reduce evaporation while generating power — no land required.
Why This Matters: Connecting Energy to Food Security
Energy is essential, but so is food. As the global population approaches 10 billion, protecting farmland becomes increasingly crucial, not less so; protecting farmland becomes more critical, not less. A healthy local food system supports nutrition, community resilience, biodiversity, and economic independence.
Petroleum dependence, meanwhile, poses its risks — geopolitical instability, price volatility, pollution, and climate change. Transitioning to renewables like solar is necessary, but only when done with long-term planning and conservation principles in mind.
What You Can Do
Here’s how someone living a conservation lifestyle can take action:
🔌 Install solar at home — even a small system helps.
📞 Advocate for local policies that prioritize rooftop and brownfield solar before farmland use.
🧾 Support businesses and municipalities that adopt smart solar siting.
🧠 Educate others: Share resources that explain the need to preserve farmland while promoting renewables.
🛒 Buy from local farmers and CSAs — keeping farmland in active, viable production is part of energy independence, too.
🌿 Practice agrivoltaics if you own land — or encourage those who do to explore it.
The Conservation Lifestyle Approach
A conservation lifestyle isn’t just about what we don’t do — it’s about what we choose to support. It means looking at complex problems like this and asking:
“How can I live in a way that keeps people, land, and nature thriving — together?”
When it comes to solar energy, the answer is clear: Yes to clean power, but not at the cost of clean food.
Let’s keep pushing for both — smart energy and strong soil — and help others see how we can build a better future without compromise.