Solar Farm Summit opens communication lines

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Solar Farm Summit opens communication lines

The American Farmland Trust says recent Solar Farm Summit in Chicago allowed farmers and developers to have honest conversations about what future integration with agriculture might look like.

Midwest solar specialist Alan Bailey says rural solar projects are still in their infancy.

“Everybody’s trying to figure it out, but unfortunately the research and everything else isn’t coming at the same pace as the development,” he says. “We hope that developers will take that into consideration because they’ve learned from those conversations.”

Greg Plotkin, senior manager of smart solar outreach, says the heavy communication from developers is a marketing strategy to entice landowners to sign leases, but there’s no need to rush.

“If you have the land and you have the transmission capacity, you really have the opportunity to have a lot of these conversations,” he says. “And that’s really the empowering factor that we want to give to these people.”

Plotkin believes solar energy can provide manufacturers with an opportunity to increase profitability, and their organization offers advice to those considering options.

AUDIO: Greg Plotkin and Alan Bailey, American Farmland Trust