977: Solar + Farming, Part 1: How Solar Can Help Save American Farmland | Lauren Glickman

For years, the solar industry has defended development on agricultural land by arguing that solar can help keep farms in the family and protect them from more permanent forms of development. Lauren Glickman thinks the opportunity may be bigger than that.

For nearly five years, Lauren has helped shepherd policy and communications at Encore Renewable Energy, one of the Northeast's leading community-scale renewable energy developers and a longtime advocate for brownfield redevelopment and more sustainable land use. In Part 1 of this two-part SunCast conversation, she makes the case for thinking about solar and farming as partners rather than competing land uses.

Lauren points to SEIA analysis showing that far more prime farmland is sitting fallow than is occupied by solar, and shares an Encore project in Vermont where a former gravel pit now generates electricity while providing pasture for a local sheep farmer.

Nico and Lauren explore what current agrivoltaics research is actually showing, where the evidence is still developing, how grazing and larger livestock can expand the opportunity, and why farmers themselves may be the most credible voices for explaining the benefits.

The bigger question is not simply how much farmland solar occupies. It is how much agricultural value solar can preserve, restore, or create.

And this is only Part 1. On Thursday, Lauren returns to tackle the harder half of the equation: how developers earn community trust, design better incentives, and make sure agricultural promises survive for the life of the project.

Expect to Learn:

🔹 Why the 43-to-1 farmland statistic changes the solar debate

🔹 How Encore turned a former gravel pit into productive pastureland

🔹 What current agrivoltaics research reveals about crops and livestock

🔹 Why farmers must lead the conversation about solar's agricultural benefits

If we're serious about protecting American farmland, maybe it's time to stop asking how much land solar occupies and start asking how much agricultural value it creates.