The transition to more renewable energy could hinge on the perspectives of rural communities.
In Pennsylvania, there are no state laws about where solar projects can be placed, so a big part of the transition to renewable energy is in the hands of local governments. Some rural communities have passed ordinances to prohibit or limit solar.
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, said solar installation in rural areas is important to meet our goal of decarbonizing the electricity grid.
“So being able to have buy-in from rural communities is very important,” she said.
Gamper-Rabindran wanted to learn more about people’s attitudes toward solar energy and leasing farmland for solar projects. Her team’s study was recently published in the journal Energy Research and Social Science. They spoke with 32 farmers and 16 nonfarmers in Appalachian counties in southwestern Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Gamper-Rabindran spoke with The Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple.
LISTEN to their conversation
[A longer audio version of the interview will be published Friday.]
Kara Holsopple: In this study, you’re looking at rural attitudes about solar installations through the lens of something called “place attachment.” What is place attachment?
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran: Farmers talk about farming and farmland as a key part of their identity. They talk about the obligations to steward the land for their family, their heirs and their community. The land provides them with security, a livelihood, and a homestead that they want to pass on to the next generation. And rural residents, even if they’re not directly connected with farming, still express identities that are tied to the farming community and to the agricultural landscape.
Kara Holsopple: What are some of the reasons farmers and their neighbors gave for being in favor of solar leasing?
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran: Many farmers talk about how farming is extremely challenging. They’re facing rising input costs and changing and unpredictable weather conditions that they attribute to climate change. So they see solar leasing as compatible with their ethic of stewarding the land. Solar leasing provides this diversified income source so that they can continue to farm in parts of the land while leasing other parts of their land.
Farmers who are close to retirement and farmers who don’t have heirs who could continue farming see leasing as a strategy for maintaining the ownership of their farmlands so that they can pass on their homestead to the next generation. Several interviewees also explained how some farmers with limited acreage rely on leasing out their land in order to maintain ownership of their land.
[T]here is tremendous support for solar in rural communities, but the solar project has to be tailored in a way that fits with the agricultural activity and with the agricultural landscape.
Turning to non-farm and rural residents who supported solar leasing, they explained how solar leasing is a strategy for protecting the continuity of the farming community.
Kara Holsopple: From the people you spoke with, why were they against solar on their land?
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran: A few farmers believe that farmland should only be used for growing food. And I respect that viewpoint. But it’s interesting to note that these farmers also emphasize that while they might not be in agreement with the use of farmland for solar leasing, they express the view that it is the farmer who owns the land who should be making the decision on land use.
We did find some agri-tourism farmers whose operations are based on an idyllic view of the rural landscape — they were opposed to solar leasing because they were concerned that urban clients might expect a particular vision of the rural landscape and would choose to go elsewhere.
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Kara Holsopple: Agri-tourism is like strawberry picking or people welcoming other people into their farms for recreation.
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran: So they are actually farmers who do agri-tourism — who embrace solar panels as part of their business model. They market their operations as eco-friendly, energy-independent, rural getaways. So, I think there are also farmers out there who are pursuing this agri-tourism model who have embraced solar panels.
Kara Holsopple: You’re looking at counties in southwestern Pennsylvania as well as a couple in Maryland. What role does the legacy of coal mining in the area play in farmers’ attitudes?
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran: Several interviewees talked about their strong ties to coal communities, their kinship and their social network. Many made a clear distinction between their support for coal communities and coal workers and their opposition to the harm done by the coal industry.
They explain that the coal industry has declined, and they are looking for ways to reimagine and revitalize their communities. They want to stay in their communities and they want to ensure that their communities are economically viable. They do see solar projects as one of the avenues to rebuild their communities.
In fact, a couple explain that they prefer solar leasing over coal and natural gas leasing because they perceive negative impacts from coal and natural gas extraction on their water resources. One interviewee in western Maryland said specifically coal had damaged their water resources and, if fracking had been allowed in western Maryland, it would have destroyed the water resource altogether.
A couple [farmers] explain that they prefer solar leasing over coal and natural gas leasing because they perceive negative impacts from coal and natural gas extraction on their water resources.
Nevertheless, there were a few interviewees who opposed solar because they perceived solar to compete with coal. They thought that solar would cause coal jobs to disappear. But we know from the data and from experience that it was natural gas that out-competed coal jobs and it’s not renewable energy.
Kara Holsopple: How much do misinformation and disinformation about solar arrays figure into objections to solar in your estimation?
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran: I will relate what the interviewees told us. We didn’t ask specifically about misinformation, but it turned out that a couple of the people who spoke to us brought up the issue of misinformation. They felt very strongly that the misinformation was being spread by people who are opposed to solar. And they were upset about this misinformation because they thought that it was preventing communities from pursuing what was beneficial and it was actually harming the communities.
So these interviewees that we talked to have actually been taking steps to educate the community about the benefits of solar and what is misinformation on solar. So, for example, one popular misinformation that preys on people’s value of their land and their strong stewardship of the land is this idea that solar panel leaches toxins into the land. That is completely not true. So it’s great to have peers in the community who are farmers themselves who are fighting against this disinformation.
Kara Holsopple: What could make a difference in changing attitudes towards rural solar installation?
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran: What our study found is that there is tremendous support for solar in rural communities, but the solar project has to be tailored in a way that fits with the agricultural activity and with the agricultural landscape.
The people we interviewed explained to us the kind of projects that they would support–specifically community solar projects. These are small-scale projects that provide direct benefits to the community by providing electricity. These are in line with the ethics of self-sufficiency and community cohesion. In fact, two farmers specifically said the legislature should enact legislation to authorize community solar in Pennsylvania.
[Community solar projects are] in line with the ethics of self-sufficiency and community cohesion.
Kara Holsopple: How can policymakers use this study when planning for solar energy projects?
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran: We also learned that farmers are relying on solar leasing as one of the avenues to diversify their income in order to continue ownership of farmland. And many farmers explain that without this external revenue, they might be forced to sell their land.
At the same time, we know that the major driver of farmland losses is the conversion of farmland to housing and commercial development. So, all this information put together means that the prohibition of solar projects on farmland in proposed state legislation does not address the issue here. It does not address farmers’ need for revenue. Such prohibition would cut one avenue for farmers to secure revenue and tilt the farmland conversion to other uses.
And we know that farmland lost to housing and commercial development, which is the major reason for farmland loss, is less likely to return to agriculture pursuits than farmlands that are hosting solar projects that are properly designed and properly decommissioned.
We need to also remember that tenant farmers and small-scale farmers have had problems accessing land even prior to solar leasing. So prohibiting solar leasing is not going to help tenant farmers. We need to do much more to support tenant farmers and small-scale farmers in the Farm Bill, in farmland preservation programs, and in agriculture conservation programs. So, for people opposed to solar because of their love of farmland, I’d suggest that farmland advocates speak louder on helping tenant farmers and small-scale farmers.
Also, negotiating solar leasing is very difficult. The farmers who had solar leases were cautioning that land owners must seek legal advice from experienced lawyers when they lease land. So I think it’s critical for the state of Pennsylvania to support agriculture extension educators who are trusted by farmers who provide vital assistance for farmers contemplating solar projects by organizing workshops and importantly, directing farmers to legal advice.
Kara Holsopple: What other kinds of things are on the horizon that might be helpful when it comes to rural communities and solar?
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran: The farmers that we talked to were very much interested in agrivoltaics, which combines agriculture with solar leasing on the same piece of land. So there are experiments that are being run right now where solar panels are on the land and at the same time sheep grazing is undertaken on the same piece of land.
We need to have much more research on how agriculture activities can be pursued in tandem with solar leasing. This would be a win-win both for farming and for decarbonizing the grid.
Shanti Gamper-Rabindran is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, the author of “America’s Energy Gamble: People, Economy and Planet” and the contributing editor of “The Shale Dilemma: A Global Perspective on Fracking & Shale Development.”
