Recent breakthroughs in renewable energy present a range of opportunities for landowners and farmers. Since farming in the 21st century can be incredibly complicated, today’s family farms face a range of practical and economic challenges. Consequently, symbiosis is emerging between regional farmers looking to preserve their land and culture and renewable energy companies such as Green Development LLC that proudly offers clean, renewable energy to the people of Rhode Island.
Housing Versus Renewable Energy Development
With shifts in climate and rainfall, some farmers are facing mounting financial burdens. Many landowners feel pressure to sell their land for residential use. Some people believe that selling family farms to housing developers is the only option available to local farmers who want to preserve at least a portion of their farms, but there are other options.
Solar and wind energy development is much more beneficial for Rhode Island’s communities because renewable energy allows farmers to continue contributing to the local food supply, and it does not increase the burden on schools, fire districts, roads, and other local services. Farmers’ contributions to their local economies are crucial. Solar and wind energy projects make it possible for open land to serve more than one use. In the case of solar, the project is typically limited to a small percentage of the overall farm property, and nearly all of the land surrounding a wind turbine can be used to grow crops or to graze livestock.
Rhode Island farms are also an important part of regional history and culture. Green Development LLC can help landowners to preserve their acreage for future generations. This is a benefit that housing developments simply cannot offer.
Providing a Financial Lifeline to Local Farms
This country’s farmers have had to deal with a difficult economic outlook for some time. Food production and revenue are impacted by uncertainties and fluctuations, such as weather and produce market prices. Because of this, many family farms have been unable to continue operation. Of those farms that are still operating, many of the owners desperately need additional revenue streams.
Fortunately, farmers who lease their land to Green Development generate new revenue streams with minimal impact on their land. Income from crop sales can be wildly unpredictable, but the money garnered from a solar or wind land lease can provide a steady income source for farmers for years to come.
Dual-Use Arrays
Some types of land development represent an upset in the surrounding ecosphere. This includes housing development. Renewable energy development presents a win-win situation for farmland and farmers’ bottom lines.
Green Development has partnered with local farmers to develop dual-use solar arrays. Rather than mounting solar panels on gravel or dirt, panels can be mounted above crops. This allows farmers to yield crops and solar energy from the same areas of land.
For example, Our Kids Farm in Exeter, RI, plants many crops below the solar panels on their land. In fact, certain types of crops see an advantage from the partial shade that the panels provide. These crops include kale and other leafy greens.
Planting beneath panels is not the only dual-use option. Some farms have solar panels that are spaced apart to allow farmers access to the soil between them, or to accommodate tractors and other large farm machinery for planting and harvesting.
Renewable energy provides opportunities that can help family farms to thrive in today’s economy. Solar and wind energy development also preserve valuable land for generations to come.
About Green Development LLC
Green Development LLC is the leading developer of utility-scale renewable energy projects in Rhode Island, specializing in wind, solar, and battery storage. The company delivers significant energy savings to municipalities, quasi-public entities, nonprofits, and other qualified entities through the virtual net metering program while providing long-term lease payments to landowners and farmers.
