Farmers opt for solar power as new cash cow

Clean energy source adopted in US amid falling prices

The fertile fields of the United States' Midwest have always been ideal for farmers to grow corn, soybeans and wheat.

But as they deal with tariffs and the worst agricultural prices in a decade, many farmers are turning to a new, nontraditional "crop" instead-solar panels.

The number of farmers choosing to lease their land to companies installing solar panels to provide electricity is not known, but the practice is being adopted nationwide.

Peter Gray, a spokesman for the Illinois Solar Energy Association, said, "Hundreds of solar projects are being developed on agricultural land in Illinois."

Elsewhere, solar companies are also working with farmers in the states of California, Colorado, Texas, Oregon, North Carolina, Washington and New York.

Daniel Kirschen, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, said: "It's a question of economics. Farming is not always very profitable. In some situations, it is more profitable to lease the land to a solar farm than to use it to produce agricultural products."

Farmers are grappling with low prices. The price of corn is 7 percent lower than usual and soybeans are selling for 15 percent lower, according to the University of Illinois.

Max Quillen, a farmer in Lyndhurst, Virginia, who owns Waynesboro Nurseries, a 647-hectare farm, feels the need to diversify and is ready to invest in solar panels.

Quillen said his great-grandfather bought the land in 1934, but times have been tough lately.

The farmer, who has sold beef, trees and plants, has struck a deal with a company called Community Energy Solar to install solar panels on his land, but is awaiting full approval from the board of supervisors in Augusta County.

"The solar deal for us would be on roughly 25 percent (162 hectares) of our land. Most of the panels will be placed on land that was used for cattle," Quillen said.

"Some of the land we own is for cattle, some is for growing trees, and some, to be quite honest, is useless ... Our neighbors are also going to put land into the project. So, the total size is 1,100 acres (445 hectares)," he said.

"The contracts are for 35 years. We really want to keep the land in our family, as we get a lot of benefits from it. It will diversify our income so that we can keep farming, and it will alleviate some of the financial pressure."