Agrivoltaics, a term that was relatively unknown until the last few years, is now common lexicon for placing electricity generating solar panels on crop or grazing land to produce both electricity and crops or forage for livestock. According to Andrew Berke, USDA’s rural utilities service administrator, the USDA is committing millions of dollars to field trials and applied research to agrivoltaics. Berke points out that studies being conducted around the country are focused on using the land under the arrays to grow specialty crops, and grazing sheep, cattle and horses, since all that needs to be done for grazing larger animal is to raise the solar panels up five feet, a practice that is being used in Europe. Some industry advocates contend that in the future, solar electric production will depend on agrivoltaics to be successful in the long term, and that for land owners, selling electricity could make land more valuable.
Over the past month or so, I’ve noticed a subtle shift in the tone of articles in agricultural publications concerning the state of the agricultural economy. I’ve read several reports that pointed out that farmers, especially those in the Midwest who grow the bulk of the corn, soybeans and wheat in this country, may be facing some tougher economics in the near term. For example, a couple of weeks ago, Scott Irwin, agricultural economist at University of Illinois, published projected income returns for "highly productive farmland" in central Illinois, land that averages 230 bushels of corn and 75 bushels of soybeans per acre in normal years. Using a return of $4.50 per bushel for corn and $11.30 a bushel for soybeans, Irwin projected average losses of $110 per acre for the corn, and $57 per acre for soybeans. Analysts at agricultural news service DTN have pointed out that the National Corn Index right now is at $3.90 a bushel, while farmers are dealing with roughly 30% higher production costs than before Covid, and a $4 bushel of corn is now roughly about the same value as a $3 bushel of corn used to be. USDA is reporting that Net Farm Income for 2024 will be $116.1 billion, that’s a drop of $80.3 billion from its record of $196.4 billion in 2022, which is the largest two-year drop in the past 20 years. USDA will update its Net Farm Income data in September.
Also of concern to farmers and ranchers is that there is still no progress being made on the , getting the 2024 Farm Bill written and passed in both the House and Senate and signed into law. Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota stated recently that the Senate calendar is "awfully full until the end of the year, and that there will probably be another extension of the 2023 Farm Bill passed before the end of September this year." Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., said that farmers would be "better off" if lawmakers passed an extension and allowed more time to improve farm programs rather than settle or compromise on program changes. So, Congress is still fiddling with getting a new Farm Bill completed, but putting off the bill until 2025 won’t help farmers who have had crop losses this year due to recent weather events like Hurricane Beryl in Texas.