One less barrier for farmers who want to cover fields with solar panels
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Set us as preferred A bill that exemplifies the lack of water for farming in California just passed the state Legislature.It makes it easier for farmers to convert their fields to solar panels.
Decades ago, state lawmakers were concerned about too many farms being turned into new subdivisions.So in 1965, the state started giving tax breaks to growers who agreed to keep their land in farming.
But now farmers who want to switch to solar are finding the strict rules are like expensive locks on their property, with high fees to get out of the agreements.The bill adopted Monday night targets areas where growers are now limited in how much groundwater they can pump and are being forced to leave some of their land dry and unplanted.These landowners, largely in the Central Valley and the Central Coast, would no longer have to pay fees for the conversions.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 1156, “gives farmers and local communities in our most water-constrained regions another option for land that can no longer be productively farmed: use it to generate clean energy,” its author, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland), said.Climate & Environment Solar is exploding in the Central Valley as drought-stressed farmers look to alternatives.The bill, which the Senate approved in a 21-14 vote at the end of the legislative session, now awaits Gov.
Gavin Newsom’s signature.California has set a goal of reaching 100% clean electricity by 2045, and building more solar projects on farmland would help.Converting fields to solar arrays has become an attractive option for farmers who are grappling with restrictions limiting the groundwater they can pump from wells.California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was adopted in 2014 to address chronic overpumping that has led to falling aquifer levels and caused dry wells and sinking grou...