Say Goodbye to One-Size-Fits-All Farming With Agri-Energy
I can’t grow pineapples in upstate New York. Therefore, growing pineapples is a waste of land and nobody should do it anywhere.
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Sounds pretty silly, doesn’t it?
Yet when we start having conversations about agri-energy, these are some of the comments I hear:
“Works fine for sheep, but nothing else.”
“Yeah, you can do that in the Northeast, but it won’t work out west.”
See, the truth is that a successful agricultural economy is a diverse one. A successful energy economy is a diverse one. What might not work well in one place could be a beautiful solution in another.
So stop telling people they aren’t “real farmers” because they don’t farm like you do. Or because they farm in a way that challenges the status quo.
In the United States, we’ve done the cookie cutter thing for too long. It’s clear that our old models are no longer working.
If you’re someone who is lamenting the loss of American farmland, yet you’re still always looking for the cheapest price on food and refuse to buy from your local farmer… pause and think.
If you’re someone who believes in the rights of a landowner to do what they see fit on private land, yet complain about a nearby farmer leasing to a solar company…pause and think.
If you’re someone who is interested in increasing our country’s ability to meet all of our own food and energy needs, yet you continue to lobby against renewables…you get the idea.
People often comment on my posts, “The farmers I know hate solar panels.”
Maybe that’s the case. Those farmers can do what they’d like on their land (but please, if you tell me this, I want to know you’ve talked to more than two farmers for your “market research”).
Then, I have two questions.
One: why do they hate it?
Because more often than not, their dislike is fueled by a lack of understanding.
Sometimes, it’s fear that they’ll lose the land forever (solar is one of the only land use applications that lets the land return to its former setting after it has ceased functionality). Sometimes, it’s a lack of knowledge about how the panels work (no, they don’t release chemicals into the soil).
The second question is: what’s your long-term plan for your farm, then?
We have relied on monocultures and the backing of the American government for far too long. Unless you are part of a large corporate farm, you are going to run out of options sooner rather than later.
The number of American farmers who are not in debt and not relying on government assistance in any form is dwindling. Throw in an unpredictable climate and we’re all up against a wall.
We have got to stop making this a political thing. We have got to stop making this an “either or” thing.
We can have our cake and eat it, too. We can have small farms that thrive, and energy systems that thrive.
But we need to be willing to accept that these systems will look different for everyone.
We don’t need to grow pineapples in upstate New York, but we do need to support the people who do it in Hawaii.
Want to learn more about raising sheep? Check out these featured articles!
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