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AgriSolar Podcast Ep. 6: The Big Picture and Nitty Gritty of Agrisolar

This episode is a conversation between NCAT Energy Program Director Stacie Peterson and Iain Ward, a farmer and founder of Solar Agricultural Services.

It is the sixth in a series of AgriSolar Clearinghouse podcasts that are being featured on ATTRA’S Voices from the Field podcast.

Stacie and Iain discuss the potential of agrisolar as way to remove barriers to entry into farming, how agrisolar is shifting the solar industry to consider regenerative agriculture, practical considerations for getting started in agrisolar, Iain’s connection with Wendell Berry, and Wendell’s thoughts on co-locating solar and agriculture. 

Related NCAT Resources:

Other Resources:

Contact Stacie Peterson at stacieb@ncat.org.

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE000937. Legal Disclaimer: The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.

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AgriSolar Podcast Ep. 5: Sharing the Journey with AgriSolar Consulting

This episode is a conversation between NCAT Energy Program Director Stacie Peterson and Alexis Pascaris, executive director of AgriSolar Consulting.

It is the fifth in a series of AgriSolar Clearinghouse podcasts that are being featured on ATTRA’S Voices from the Field podcast.

Alexis is a consultant and a stakeholder in the AgriSolar Clearinghouse. She and Stacie discuss the social aspects of agrisolar, including the concept of energy as a social matter with technological components, the importance of the cultural landscapes around agrisolar operations, and the “social license” to operate them. Alexis and Stacie also address the stacked benefits of agrisolar itself and agrisolar projects around the country.

 

Related NCAT Resources:

Other Resources:

Contact Stacie Peterson at stacieb@ncat.org.

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE000937. Legal Disclaimer: The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.

 

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AgriSolar Podcast Ep. 4: Birds, Bees, and Butterflies – Solar Pollinator Habitat

This episode features a conversation between Stacie Peterson, NCAT’s Energy Program Director and Manager of the AgriSolar Clearinghouse, and Pete Berthelsen, Executive Director of The Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund and President of Conservation Blueprint. 

It is the fourth in a series of AgriSolar Clearinghouse podcasts that are being featured on ATTRA’S Voices from the Field podcast.  

Pete and Stacie discuss the benefits of pollinator habitat at solar energy sites, pollinator habitat design, seed mixes, pollinator health and quality, and what anyone can do to help pollinators in their own backyard. 

AgriSolar Clearinghouse Resources: 

Other Resources: 

Contact Stacie Peterson at stacieb@ncat.org.   

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.   

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.   

Learn about NCAT’s other innovative sustainable agriculture programs.   

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE000937. Legal Disclaimer: The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.  

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AgriSolar Podcast Ep. 3: Lexie Hain — Sheep and Solar a Match

This episode features a conversation between Stacie Peterson, NCAT’s Energy Program Director and Manager of the AgriSolar Clearinghouse, and Lexie Hain, the country’s leading solar grazing expert.  

It is the third in a series of AgriSolar Clearinghouse podcasts that are being featured on ATTRA’S Voices from the Field podcast. 

Lexie is a farmer, solar grazer, and the Director of Agrivoltaics at Lightsource BP.  She co-founded the American Solar Grazing Association and is a stakeholder in the AgriSolar Clearinghouse. She also coined the term solar grazing.  

Lexie and Stacie discuss the practicalities of solar grazing, how to prepare and manage agrivoltaic sites, opportunities for grazers and solar developers, and how sheep and solar are made for each other.

 

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE000937. Legal Disclaimer: The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government. 

Related NCAT Resources: 

Other Resources: 

Contact Stacie Peterson at stacieb@ncat.org.  

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.  

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.  

Learn about NCAT’s other innovative sustainable agriculture programs.  

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AgriSolar Podcast Ep. 2: Keeping Family Farms in Family Hands with AgriSolar in Massachusetts

This episode is a conversation between Stacie Peterson, NCAT’s Energy Program Director and Manager of the AgriSolar Clearinghouse, and Nate Tassinari, the owner of Million Little Sunbeams, a third-generation hay farm in Monson, Massachusetts.

It is the second in a series of AgriSolar Clearinghouse podcasts that are being featured on ATTRA’S Voices from the Field podcast.

Nate’s hay operation is a 1-acre farm co-located with a solar array that generates 250 kilowatts of power. It is centrally located among a network of family farms and has solar panels that are elevated 10 feet above the ground, both to accommodate haying equipment and to satisfy Massachusetts regulations for incentives.

In the conversation, Nate describes the financial aspects of owning a solar array, how to harvest the sun during the winter, the interconnection of family farmlands, and the role solar can play in farm ownership.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE000937. Legal Disclaimer: The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.

Related ATTRA Resources:

Other Resources:

Contact Stacie Peterson at stacieb@ncat.org

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.

Learn about NCAT’s other innovative sustainable agriculture programs.

AgriSolar Podcast Ep. 1: Growing Crops Among the Solar Panels in Colorado

The AgriSolar Clearinghouse Podcast officially kicks off with a conversation between Meg Caley, Executive Director and co-founder of the Colorado nonprofit Sprout City Farms and NCAT Energy Director Stacie Peterson. They discuss the many additive benefits of agrisolar, the challenges of farming in an obstacle course, and the importance of community. AgriSolar podcast episodes will be available on Voices from the Field, NCAT’s ATTRA sustainable agriculture podcast series.

Sprout City Farms began in 2010 with a vision of increasing food access and community resiliency through farming underutilized urban land. Among its partnerships, Sprout City Farms works with Jack’s Solar Garden in Longmont, Colorado, growing crops in the spaces between solar panels at the site, which is the largest agrivoltaic research facility of its kind in the United States.

You can read more about Sprout City Farms, Jack’s Solar Garden, and the Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center at these websites: 

Sprout City Farms 

Jack’s Solar Garden 

Colorado Agrivoltaic Learning Center 

LISTEN: NCAT’s AgriSolar Clearinghouse Aims to Make Solar More Accessible to Land Managers 

The National Center for Appropriate Technology has launched America’s first AgriSolar Clearinghouse to connect farmers, ranchers, land managers, solar developers, and researchers with trusted, practical information to increase the co-location of solar and agriculture.   

In less than a decade, solar installations are expected to cover more than 3 million acres of the United States, creating a big opportunity to pair solar with agricultural land to produce food, conserve ecosystems, create renewable energy, increase pollinator habitat, and maximize farm revenue.   

 In this episode of the ATTRA podcast series, Voices from the Field, NCAT Communications Director Emilie Ritter Saunders speaks with Energy Programs Director Stacie Peterson, Phd., about how the AgriSolar Clearinghouse aims to make solar more accessible to land managers looking to make the most out of their land, diversify their revenue, and produce renewable energy.   

ATTRA Resources:

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find our other extensive, and free, sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources on NCAT/ATTRA’s homepage.

This podcast is produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program, under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development. ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.  

Sheep and the Sun: Solar Grazing with Lexie Hain

A recent episode of ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture podcast Voices from the Field takes a look at solar grazing, the practice of using livestock to manage the vegetation under solar panels. Sheep are widely considered the best animal for solar grazing, and they are being used in many countries with great success.

National Center for Appropriate Technology Livestock Specialist Linda Coffey talks with Lexie Hain, a co-founder of the American Solar Grazing Association. Lexie, who began grazing sheep at solar arrays in 2016, talks about how she began solar grazing and offers practical tips for anyone who is considering the practice.

With agricultural land in high demand and requirements to expand renewable energy, using land for agriculture and energy at the same time is better for the environment, the solar company, the farmers, and the sheep.

ATTRA Resources:

Other Resources:

This podcast is produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program, under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development. ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.