4 ms·

Something that's interesting is that most of our agricultural crops are bred for full sun (ie, a big flat field). I wonder if there's room for new partial-shade

Something that's interesting is that most of our agricultural crops are bred for full sun (ie, a big flat field). I wonder if there's room for new partial-shade versions of crops, so they work better alongside solar panels. I doubt they'd be as productive in an absolute sense (less light = less total energy), but adding on solar panels value to the output of that land would likely be better than single-use of either.

danohuiginn 4y ago
The problem is, how do you navigate a tractor around the panels? Animals are a much better fit in that regard
- beembeem 4y ago
  you either go up (expensive) or wide (less economical, lower energy yield)
- epistasis 4y ago
  Buy appropriately sized tractors. Typically farmers are upgrading these things all the time, should be pretty straightforward to swap out this single factor of production to the right sort of thing. Our vehicles and machinery have this tendency to occupy prime mental real estate, as unchangeable monoliths around which everything must be planned. In reality, they are the most changable thing, and we must change our machinery to serve us, rather than the other way around. There are also lots of crops that are not serviced by large tractors, but individual human hands. In fact most of the fruit and vegetables we eat are like that, and many of those crops do very well with a bit less than full Sun.
  - lstodd 4y ago
    [flagged]
chucksta 4y ago
I think the crop or the plants would have to change a lot. Currently it's pretty easy to see which areas get full sun and which don't when you drive by a corn field in growing season. Looks like its being tested though https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/food-and-farms/can-agriculture-and-solar-farms-co-exist-it-depends https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/food-and-farms/can-agri...
epistasis 4y ago
There are many studies examining the potential of agrivoltaics (it even has a Wikipedia page), and they find just as you suggest: the combined output of electricity + crops is better than doing either one alone, but the electric and crop is a bit less than devoting the field to either purpose solely, as it would need to be. Efficiency increases are often 30% or more. Some people get really, irrationally upset about solar being put on farm fields, but it really helps both the farmer and society to do that.
- iso1631 4y ago
  I think it's more that there's likely better land to put it on. In the UK for example there's arable land growing corn or cows or whatever, and there's scrub moorland which is closed from the public and used to shoot grouse once a year. If you have 100 acres of solar to put on land, better to put it on the grouse moor.
  - epistasis 4y ago
    But in what sense is it better to use grouse moor? That's habitat that is not currently touched much, and is a good reservoir for natural ecology, right? There's value in that.
    - lazide 4y ago
      Presumably because the solar infrastructure gets in the way of the corn, but is unlikely to matter much for some grouse?
    - ClumsyPilot 4y ago
      They put hundreds of birds into those fields every year so that hunters have something to shoot. I wouldn't call that untouched.
    - hgomersall 4y ago
      It really is touched a lot. The landscape is basically grouse farming.
    - 4y ago
ClumsyPilot 4y ago
> most of our agricultural crops are bred for full sun Some crops need shade, most often berries. Shade in Spain and Shade in North Scotland are very different of course.
gdubs 4y ago
Permaculture and agroforestry touch on this a lot. In permaculture designs usually photosynthesis per acre is maximized by planting guilds of crops that work well together – in this case, larger trees with shade-loving shrubs beneath them, and beneficial ground cover beneath them as well. Towards the more conventional end of agroforestry, rows of trees are separated with rows of crops, grains, etc. There's lots of benefits to this way of farming, though it's still 'new' to a lot of people.
giarc 4y ago
Ginseng needs shade(1), farmers should install solar over ginseng crops. However, I suspect they need to drive equipment through at times. I wonder if there are solar installations where the panel can go perpendicular to the ground to allow tractors through? 1 - https://www.google.ca/search?q=ginseng+field https://www.google.ca/search?q=ginseng+field

danohuiginn 4y ago

The problem is, how do you navigate a tractor around the panels? Animals are a much better fit in that regard

beembeem 4y ago
you either go up (expensive) or wide (less economical, lower energy yield)
epistasis 4y ago
Buy appropriately sized tractors. Typically farmers are upgrading these things all the time, should be pretty straightforward to swap out this single factor of production to the right sort of thing. Our vehicles and machinery have this tendency to occupy prime mental real estate, as unchangeable monoliths around which everything must be planned. In reality, they are the most changable thing, and we must change our machinery to serve us, rather than the other way around. There are also lots of crops that are not serviced by large tractors, but individual human hands. In fact most of the fruit and vegetables we eat are like that, and many of those crops do very well with a bit less than full Sun.
- lstodd 4y ago
  [flagged]

chucksta 4y ago

I think the crop or the plants would have to change a lot. Currently it's pretty easy to see which areas get full sun and which don't when you drive by a corn field in growing season. Looks like its being tested though https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/food-and-farms/can-agriculture-and-solar-farms-co-exist-it-depends https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/food-and-farms/can-agri...

epistasis 4y ago

There are many studies examining the potential of agrivoltaics (it even has a Wikipedia page), and they find just as you suggest: the combined output of electricity + crops is better than doing either one alone, but the electric and crop is a bit less than devoting the field to either purpose solely, as it would need to be. Efficiency increases are often 30% or more. Some people get really, irrationally upset about solar being put on farm fields, but it really helps both the farmer and society to do that.

iso1631 4y ago
I think it's more that there's likely better land to put it on. In the UK for example there's arable land growing corn or cows or whatever, and there's scrub moorland which is closed from the public and used to shoot grouse once a year. If you have 100 acres of solar to put on land, better to put it on the grouse moor.
- epistasis 4y ago
  But in what sense is it better to use grouse moor? That's habitat that is not currently touched much, and is a good reservoir for natural ecology, right? There's value in that.
  - lazide 4y ago
    Presumably because the solar infrastructure gets in the way of the corn, but is unlikely to matter much for some grouse?
  - ClumsyPilot 4y ago
    They put hundreds of birds into those fields every year so that hunters have something to shoot. I wouldn't call that untouched.
  - hgomersall 4y ago
    It really is touched a lot. The landscape is basically grouse farming.
  - 4y ago

ClumsyPilot 4y ago

> most of our agricultural crops are bred for full sun Some crops need shade, most often berries. Shade in Spain and Shade in North Scotland are very different of course.

gdubs 4y ago

Permaculture and agroforestry touch on this a lot. In permaculture designs usually photosynthesis per acre is maximized by planting guilds of crops that work well together – in this case, larger trees with shade-loving shrubs beneath them, and beneficial ground cover beneath them as well. Towards the more conventional end of agroforestry, rows of trees are separated with rows of crops, grains, etc. There's lots of benefits to this way of farming, though it's still 'new' to a lot of people.

giarc 4y ago

Ginseng needs shade(1), farmers should install solar over ginseng crops. However, I suspect they need to drive equipment through at times. I wonder if there are solar installations where the panel can go perpendicular to the ground to allow tractors through? 1 - https://www.google.ca/search?q=ginseng+field https://www.google.ca/search?q=ginseng+field