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USDA has programs like Conservation Reserve that pay farmers not to work land for 10+ years in order to improve environmental quality. If studies can establish

USDA has programs like Conservation Reserve that pay farmers not to work land for 10+ years in order to improve environmental quality. If studies can establish what types solar installations can meet the requirements of the program that could be a big win win. Of course it doesn't make sense to conserve land that is having its water cut off.

hedora 7y ago
> Of course it doesn't make sense to conserve land that is having its water cut off This is very short sighted. Restoring topsoil at scale is beyond current technology. For example, the Sahara desert was fertile before it was over farmed, then abandoned. https://www.livescience.com/4180-sahara-desert-lush-populated.html https://www.livescience.com/4180-sahara-desert-lush-populate... Future generations may find better uses for this land than solar farming, but probably not if we ruin it now. Even before then, ruining the land with reckless solar installations could lead to further desertification in neighboring areas. Again, this is still happening with the Sahara (though not because of solar): https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-Sahara-Desert-continuously-expanding https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-Sahara-Desert-continuously-... To be clear, we need to build solar as fast as possible, but not at the cost of needlessly wrecking the planet even more.
- triceratops 7y ago
  > https://www.livescience.com/4180-sahara-desert-lush-populated.html https://www.livescience.com/4180-sahara-desert-lush-populate... That page is terrible - email subscription modal, asking for notification permissions, attempts to load a Flash plugin, and stuffed to the gills with display and banner ads.
- rayiner 7y ago
  What? That article says it was caused by changing rain patterns: “300 to 5,500 years ago: Retreating monsoonal rains initiate desiccation in the Egyptian Sahara, prompting humans to move to remaining habitable niches in Sudanese Sahara. The end of the rains and return of desert conditions throughout the Sahara after 5,500 coincides with population return to the Nile Valley and the beginning of pharaonic society.”
- thinkcontext 7y ago
  Totally baffled as to what you are talking about. If the land no longer has access to water and thus can't be used for farming anymore why would the government pay to conserve it for future farming? The Sahara example isn't applicable because this is land that was made suitable for farming through artificial means. You also seem to think solar farms ruin the land. I explicitly talk about doing solar in such a way that would qualify for the conservation program that improves land.

hedora 7y ago

> Of course it doesn't make sense to conserve land that is having its water cut off This is very short sighted. Restoring topsoil at scale is beyond current technology. For example, the Sahara desert was fertile before it was over farmed, then abandoned. https://www.livescience.com/4180-sahara-desert-lush-populated.html https://www.livescience.com/4180-sahara-desert-lush-populate... Future generations may find better uses for this land than solar farming, but probably not if we ruin it now. Even before then, ruining the land with reckless solar installations could lead to further desertification in neighboring areas. Again, this is still happening with the Sahara (though not because of solar): https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-Sahara-Desert-continuously-expanding https://www.quora.com/How-is-the-Sahara-Desert-continuously-... To be clear, we need to build solar as fast as possible, but not at the cost of needlessly wrecking the planet even more.

triceratops 7y ago
> https://www.livescience.com/4180-sahara-desert-lush-populated.html https://www.livescience.com/4180-sahara-desert-lush-populate... That page is terrible - email subscription modal, asking for notification permissions, attempts to load a Flash plugin, and stuffed to the gills with display and banner ads.
rayiner 7y ago
What? That article says it was caused by changing rain patterns: “300 to 5,500 years ago: Retreating monsoonal rains initiate desiccation in the Egyptian Sahara, prompting humans to move to remaining habitable niches in Sudanese Sahara. The end of the rains and return of desert conditions throughout the Sahara after 5,500 coincides with population return to the Nile Valley and the beginning of pharaonic society.”
thinkcontext 7y ago
Totally baffled as to what you are talking about. If the land no longer has access to water and thus can't be used for farming anymore why would the government pay to conserve it for future farming? The Sahara example isn't applicable because this is land that was made suitable for farming through artificial means. You also seem to think solar farms ruin the land. I explicitly talk about doing solar in such a way that would qualify for the conservation program that improves land.