How Solar Power Saves Family Farms

(NewsUSA) - Many small, family-owned farms in America are struggling to make ends meet. But some farmers like Byron Kominek are discovering how renewable energy can help them keep their land and their way of life.

Byron’s 24-acre farm in Longmont, Colorado, has been in his family for 50 years. His family’s hay-growing business was no longer paying the bills, and Byron needed to find a new way to sustain the land that honored the hard work put in over multiple generations.

After exploring several land management options, Byron decided to build a solar farm on four acres of land, which generates land lease revenue for his family and power for more than 300 homes each year.

Byron is also exploring the emerging farming technique of agrivoltaics, which involves growing crops under solar panels. The microclimates created beneath the solar panels open the door for farmers to grow different varieties of crops. It’s a win-win for forward-thinking farmers like Byron, who are re-purposing their land to grow new crops and produce clean energy.

Byron is not alone in his adoption of American-made energy on the family farm. Approximately one-third of Colorado’s electricity is currently generated by wind or solar power, including from family farms like Byron’s, according to the American Clean Power Association (ACP).

ACP represents the clean energy industry, including companies developing wind, solar, and clean hydrogen power. Visit cleanpower.org to learn more about how renewable energy sources can help family farms thrive in the future.