Solar Energy Development Poses No Threat to Agricultural Land or Food Production, New Report Shows

SALT LAKE CITY, UT, UNITED STATES, February 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Recent media coverage portraying solar energy development as a threat to agricultural land and food production has no basis in fact, according to a new report from The Western Way, a conservative based group focused on market-competitive solutions to environmental and conservation challenges.

The report, Solar Panels and Agricultural Land Use: Get The Facts, analyzes the current and future land use needs of the solar energy industry alongside data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources. Key findings include:

● Current solar-energy land use is roughly equivalent to the amount of land occupied by golf courses, i.e. one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of total U.S. land mass.

● Future solar-energy land use will not exceed one-half of one percent (0.5%) of total U.S. land mass, even under the most aggressive growth projections.

● The land-use needs of solar energy – both today and decades from now – will be 100 times smaller than the needs of farmers and ranchers.

● The long-term land-use needs of solar energy are at least 10 times smaller than those of cities, suburbs and towns, which pose much greater competition for the nation’s agricultural land.

“The narrative suggesting a conflict between solar energy and agriculture, pushed by some media outlets, is simply untrue,” said Greg Brophy and Rural Energy Network Director of The Western Way. “The land requirements of the solar industry, both present and future, are relatively small and pose no threat to food production. If there is a threat to agricultural land use, it’s urban sprawl, not energy production.”

“Efforts to restrict farmers and ranchers from leasing their land for solar energy development will not bolster agricultural productivity,” continued Brophy, who is a fourth-generation family farmer and a former Republican state legislator. “Instead, such restrictions will only undermine private property rights, stifle investment and job creation in rural communities, and hinder economic diversification. The bottom line is that farmers and ranchers should have the freedom to decide how best to utilize their land.”

“Those who find solar energy development beneficial will pursue it. Those who don't, won't. Any attempt to control these decisions represents an unwarranted intrusion into the autonomy of farmers, ranchers and rural communities,” Brophy concluded.

Full Report Link

The Western Way is a non-profit organization focused on fiscal conservative, market-competitive solutions to environmental and conservation challenges facing our country. www.thewesternway.org

Greg Brophy
The Western Way
+1 303-970-0852
info@thewesternway.org
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