As global challenges intensify around food security, renewable energy deployment, and water management, innovative solutions that integrate these critical needs are urgently needed. Amid the often contentious debate over land use — whether agricultural farmland should be dedicated to crop production or repurposed for solar energy farms — groundbreaking research emerging from Michigan State University presents a compelling vision: solar energy and agriculture not only can coexist but also synergize to improve economic and environmental outcomes. This paradigm shift moves beyond the binary choice of agriculture versus solar installations, introducing an integrative approach known as agrisolar colocations.
Michigan State University graduate student Jake Stid, from the College of Natural Science’s Hydrogeology Lab, has led a decisive study analyzing how combining small-scale solar installations within working agricultural fields impacts farmers’ financial resilience and resource management. By leveraging advanced remote sensing technologies and aerial imagery from California — a state with some of the most intensively farmed and valuable agricultural land, alongside immense solar deployment — Stid’s team has been able to dissect 25 years of land use patterns with unprecedented granularity. Employing satellite data through the Google Earth Engine, the research identifies strategically placed solar arrays within farmland, quantifying their direct and indirect economic impact.
The findings, recently published in the prestigious journal Nature Sustainability, reveal a nuanced, data-driven story. Instead of wholesale conversion of farmland to utility-scale solar farms — a practice often criticized for reducing crop production and threatening food security — farmers who implemented small-area solar arrays on lower-yield patches within their fields improved their overall economic stability. Incorporating solar photovoltaic panels reduced operational expenditure on water and fertilizer use, while revenue generated from feeding surplus electricity back into the grid helped offset losses from marginally reduced crop yields. This multifaceted financial buffer grants farmers a more reliable income stream amid increasing agricultural uncertainties driven by climate variability.
The concept of agrisolar colocations effectively demonstrates a practical, dual-use land management approach that reconciles competing demands for food, energy, and water resources — the so-called food–energy–water nexus. This interdisciplinary framework underscores the complex interdependencies characteristic of modern sustainability challenges. By overlaying solar infrastructure on farmland without complete land conversion, agrisolar systems enable retention of crop production while unlocking additional income from renewable energy generation. This synergy is particularly critical in water-scarce environments like California, where optimized water use is essential. The shading effect of panels can reduce evaporation and irrigation requirements, crucial for mitigating drought stress.
Stid emphasizes that this integrated model dispels the myth that solar and agriculture must be worthy adversaries. “The conversation should not be solar or agriculture but solar and agriculture,” he asserts. By strategically targeting solar installations on parts of fields that yield little agricultural return, farmers can benefit economically without sacrificing their core mission of food production. This dual-functionality approach fosters a resilient and diversified farming operation, providing enhanced buffer capacity against market price fluctuations and adverse climatic events.
The research methodology involved extensive use of spatial datasets, including the previously published solar panel footprint across California that Stid developed in 2022, combined with state- and federally collected agricultural statistics. By integrating crop revenue data, input cost analyses from the University of California-Davis, and water use fees, the study synthesized an economic model that realistically estimated farm-level costs and returns both with and without solar infrastructures. In parallel, modeled output from solar arrays quantified electricity generation potential, enabling assessment of offset revenues through grid sales.
Importantly, the study moves beyond theoretical projections, painting a real-world picture of the complex tradeoffs inherent in land-use decisions. The researchers estimated that the land currently occupied by solar could have produced enough food to feed approximately 86,000 individuals, highlighting the sensitive balance between energy and food provisioning. Yet, by merging solar and cropping, farmers avoid giving up the entirety of this land’s productivity, maintaining food supply while enhancing economic security, an outcome vital amid rising global food demand and climate-induced resource limitations.
Water conservation emerges as a particularly salient environmental benefit of agrisolar systems. Solar panels provide partial shading that reduces soil temperature and evaporation rates, lowering crop water requirements. Reduced irrigation needs translate directly into cost savings and lessen pressure on already overstressed water supplies in arid regions. These ecosystem service benefits reinforce the sustainability credentials of agrisolar initiatives and demonstrate how technological innovation can dovetail with ecosystem stewardship.
Looking forward, Stid and his collaborator, MSU assistant professor Anthony Kendall, envision expanding this research nationally across diverse agricultural landscapes in the continental United States. The team is also investigating broader ecological effects of agrisolar installations beyond economic metrics, including impacts on soil health, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. These forthcoming studies aim to establish comprehensive best-practice guidelines and land-use policies that support large-scale adoption of agrisolar systems as a means to balance competing societal needs.
Crucially, the study conveys that agrisolar colocations are not merely a temporary compromise but present a durable pathway for farmers to adapt and thrive amid shifting economic and environmental pressures. The integration of renewable energy within agricultural landscapes can stabilize farm revenues, safeguard food production, improve water use efficiency, and contribute to climate change mitigation goals. This multi-benefit model encourages stakeholders to rethink land management paradigms and offers a hopeful template for sustainable rural development.
The implications resonate far beyond California, where this research focused, pointing toward transformative possibilities for sustainable agriculture globally. As extreme weather events intensify and resource scarcity intensifies, agrisolar land-use strategies present an elegant, scalable mechanism to balance renewable energy generation with food security and water conservation. This integrated approach exemplifies how harnessing technology, ecology, and smart policy can jointly foster resilient food–energy–water systems capable of sustaining growing populations without sacrificing environmental integrity.
In conclusion, the innovative Michigan State University research provides a much-needed evidence base indicating that farmland can marry solar energy production with agriculture profitably and sustainably. By embracing the concept of agrisolar colocations, farmers may unlock new financial opportunities, enhance resource efficiency, and contribute vital ecosystem services. This research challenges prevailing assumptions of conflict between renewable energy and agriculture and builds a compelling case for cooperative land-use frameworks that underpin a more resilient and sustainable future.
Subject of Research: Agrisolar colocations and their impact on the food–energy–water nexus and economic security in agriculture.
Article Title: Impacts of agrisolar co-location on the food–energy–water nexus and economic security
News Publication Date: April 21, 2025
Web References:
- https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01546-4
- MSU news and contact details as referenced in the original text
References:
Stid, J., Kendall, A., et al. (2025). Impacts of agrisolar co-location on the food–energy–water nexus and economic security. Nature Sustainability. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-025-01546-4
Image Credits: Information not provided in the source.
Keywords: Conventional farming, Crops, Agrisolar colocations, Food–energy–water nexus, Renewable energy, Solar photovoltaics, Water conservation, Sustainable agriculture, Economic security
