The Impacts of Solar Farming on Yields
“When you farm under solar, the yields are reduced.”
This common statement is true. And false.
Let me explain.
We have a global hunger problem. The WHO estimates that roughly 8% of the global population (many of them children) experienced hunger and malnutrition in 2024.
The question is always, “how do we increase yields?”
We don’t need to. Here’s why.
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The Truth About Global Hunger & Yields
We produce more food than we need. Anywhere from 30% to 40% of food is wasted. Sometimes it’s in processing or transportation, sometimes in our kitchens. We continue to produce record yields and the hunger problem persists.
The problem isn’t lack of food. The problem is that many people (including farmers) cannot afford that food. The problem is that we are stuck in a commodity mindset. We aren’t producing the right food, or getting that food where it needs to go.
Agri-energy provides a solution.
How Agri-Energy Can Help
Farmers should be able to grow food that nourishes the land and our bodies, without having to worry about where to even find the land to farm.
As our energy needs butt up against our need to feed ourselves, now is not the time to think about increasing yields. We need to make use of the land we already have.
One study found that 90% of us could be fed entirely by food grown within 100 miles of our homes. This flies in the face of those who believe that conventional agriculture (feedlots, CAFOs, and commodity crops) is the only way to feed the masses.
I’m told if we put solar on prime farmland, we won’t be able to feed ourselves.
But we’re not feeding ourselves now. Our top two crops - corn and soybeans - aren’t exactly “table-ready” when they’re harvested. The lion’s share of these commodities go to ultra-processed food, biofuel, and livestock feed.
They are inefficient crops. While our yields hit record highs, these crops require more agrochemicals, deplete topsoil, are artificially propped up by government subsidies, and, as we’ve seen in light of recent tariffs, don’t have a huge domestic market.
Why are we so focused on increasing soybean yields when 50% of our soybeans go to China…and China hasn’t bought any soybeans from us this fall?
Producing a lot of food is great. Producing a smaller amount of more nutritious food that goes directly to people’s tables (and isn’t wasted) is better.
The Takeaway
Sure, if you grow broccoli or even soybeans under solar, the yields may be reduced. Of one crop. But you aren’t just growing one crop. You’re also harvesting energy. And often, the added income and ability to experiment with synergies in planting allows farmers to grow crops that their communities actually need, rather than relying on the tenuous commodity market.
Organic yields not only match conventional yields but outperform them in years of drought. Regenerative farmers recognize something that we’re beginning to see in the agri-energy world, too: we can’t just focus on inputs and outputs.
My message: stop seeing farms as yield machines. See them as systems. You’ll be amazed at what we can produce.
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