MOWER COUNTY — Minnesota has plenty of prime farmland, with some of it being converted in the transition to clean energy sources such as solar, and the movement has sparked conversations about future land use in ag-heavy areas.
The Clean Grid Alliance said Minnesota has 17 million acres of farmland considered "prime."
Even if all current development plans are fully realized, solar would take up less than 0.5% of the total.
In some farming communities, residents sometimes express reluctance about adding a new layer to a town's identity.
Trish Harren, Mower County administrator, said it can happen after visible signs of a solar project but she pointed out the economic benefits are substantial.
"As solar builds out, it will be an economic development tool that will help us keep our tax base stable," Harren explained.
Harren noted they have already seen the same effect with wind development and the pending Louise Solar Project is expected to provide more than $2 million in new tax revenue to help pay down local tax levies.
Officials said the revenue is on top of direct payments to landowners hosting the projects.
Harren stressed as they map out future land use, they have to strike a delicate balance because agriculture is still their primary economic driver.
Researchers at Virginia Tech are looking at the possible connection between larger solar farms and soil erosion along farm property.
Marlin Fay, president of the Mower County Farm Bureau, suggested whatever side effects might come up, the projects are not going to eliminate the nation's ability to grow food.
"If you have solar panels on the land for 30 years, they can come out of there and that land can go back to farming," Fay explained.
"If you start having residential development and big business or something, come into farmland and start putting stuff on there, that's never going to go back to farmland again."
The local leaders also pointed to the emergence of agrivoltaics, which is farming and renewables working hand in hand.
Examples include growing rows of crops in between or under canopies of solar panels or planting flowers around the installations so pollinators can float around them.
