Electric sheep: Grazing in solar arrays supports economy, climate

As industrial-sized star installations popular up passim New York and New England states, residents fearfulness the nonaccomplishment of cultivation land. One solution is simple: Sheep.

Cornell University subordinate prof Todd Schmit is partnering with farmers, solar companies and the American Solar Grazing Association, a nonprofit commercialized radical that connects star companies with shepherds, to research the economical benefits of a concern cooperative oregon producer-owned enactment that could supply coordination and logistical services for farmers grazing nether star arrays.

"This thought complements the goals of reducing fossil substance usage successful New York authorities and passim the Northeast," Schmit said. "There are virtually thousands of acres going nether caller star production, and I deliberation expanding renewable vigor accumulation is simply a large thing, but it's a small ironic if we're promoting renewable vigor production, and past due to the fact that we request to power the vegetation, we're going retired determination with mowers that are utilizing fossil fuels oregon spraying it with pesticides that are sidesplitting the plants."

Lexie Hain, a farmer successful the Finger Lakes portion and enforcement manager of the American Solar Grazing Association, sees this arsenic a boon for shepherds but portion of the situation is coordinating betwixt a fewer ample multinational star companies and galore tiny farmers.

Schmit believes this occupation could beryllium solved by helping farmers make a producer-owned concern cooperative that could negociate contracts and stock proscription equipment. Beyond grazing, the task besides volition research imaginable benefits of farmers collectively producing and selling lamb, including sharing processing instrumentality and creating a value-added marque for selling "sheep produced nether star arrays."

More than fractional of the lamb and mutton consumed successful the U.S. is imported from New Zealand and Australia, truthful providing much marketplace opportunities for section shepherds would payment the New York and New England economies, and trim the c footprint of sheep products consumed here.

While Schmit's three-year, $500,000 project—funded arsenic by Cornell and the U.S. Department of Agriculture—will absorption connected New York, Pennsylvania and the New England states, helium hopes lessons learned from the task volition beryllium utile to sheep farmers passim the United States.

"Coming to statement among a perchance disparate radical of farmers astir their needs and goals for corporate enactment is the archetypal measurement to caller cooperative development, and without it the endeavor cannot determination forward," Schmit said. "As an economist, I deliberation there's a existent accidental for enlargement of the industry, and an accidental to bring caller farmers into accumulation agriculture."

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