Solar arrays vary in size and can serve different purposes. Small arrays can support on-farm energy needs, lower farm operating costs, and can more easily fit within a farm’s footprint. Larger solar arrays—shared by multiple community subscribers who receive credit on their electricity bills for their share of the power produced—may provide dependable lease income through a contract with a solar developer. 

This option may not be available to you. Large-scale projects are typically located near key infrastructure, and developers proactively reach out to landowners in areas of interest.  Some states and utility companies have policies on net-metering, a program through which utility companies purchase excess electricity produced on the farm beyond what the farm uses. 

Learn What is Allowed 

Before you begin working with a solar developer, find out what is permitted on your property. Check with local land use officials to find out if solar development is a permitted use in your zoning district. In addition, find out if there are specific dimensional requirements like setbacks and maximum lot coverage. Some communities require site plan review. 

In addition, if your land is protected by an agricultural conservation easement, talk to the easement holder (typically a land trust or local or state public farmland protection program) about whether the easement permits facilities/structures to generate energy. Agricultural conservation easements are deed restrictions landowners voluntarily place on their property to protect agricultural land from development. 

Assess Your Energy Needs

Take time to consider your options and what works best for your land and/or your farm business. Conducting an energy audit can help you understand your farm’s current energy use and how that may change in the future. Plan carefully to protect the best and most productive farmland. As you consider incorporating solar into your farm, be sure to look at the whole picture. Compare the cost of installing the necessary infrastructure to your anticipated energy savings and additional income if you lease land or generate excess energy. Lastly, if your land is enrolled in your state’s property tax relief program for agricultural land, often referred to as current use assessment, check with your local assessor to find out if installing a solar array affects your eligibility. If you assess your needs and plan carefully, incorporating a dual-use design can minimize farmland loss and may maintain current use assessment eligibility. 

Solar leases present attractive opportunities for farmland and rangeland owners, but navigating them can be challenging. These leases typically last between 15 and 25 years, with the possibility of an additional extension of 5 to 10 years, offering landowners consistent lease payments. Be sure you are prepared (and have legal support) to negotiate contract terms with solar developers, prepare appropriate lease agreements, and understand the financial implications of solar on property taxes. The resources provided below aim to help landowners better understand solar leases, enabling them to make informed decisions for their operations.

There are several resources available to aid farmers, ranchers, and landowners in planning for agrivoltaic projects on their land. These programs can provide helpful information, training, and even one-on-one direct technical assistance. To learn more about agrivoltaics, use the “Solar Siting” tab for general information and resources. 

By understanding these financial opportunities and tools, landowners can make informed decisions that strengthen long-term viability and returns. This section explores the funding landscape and financial frameworks that support on-farm solar and agrivoltaic projects. These tools can provide practical budgeting and cost–benefit analysis when planning agrivoltaics projects or enterprises. There is also additional information on loan and grant programs to help fund solar on the farm.  

For example, the USDA offers support for energy audits, renewable energy development assistance, efficiency improvements, and system installation. USDA Rural Development provides grants, guaranteed loans, and payments for renewable energy projects. The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), administered by USDA NRCS, delivers financial and technical assistance to implement conservation practices that address resource concerns and enhance soil, water, plant, animal, and air quality. 

Policy makers and government officials should use data-driven approaches to guide siting decisions. Collecting and analyzing data ensures that solar development aligns with climate goals, land-use priorities, and environmental protections. Study the regional solar landscape—how much is being built, where, and what targets exist. Use GIS or mapping tools to identify sensitive areas such as core forests and critical habitats. Key questions include: 

• How much solar is needed to meet climate goals? 

• How much “preferred” siting (rooftops, brownfields, previously developed parcels) is available? 

• How much prime agricultural and forest land could be impacted? 

Consider commissioning a renewable energy potential study that evaluates land-use and cost implications of different deployment scenarios. Maintain ongoing data collection and share analytical resources from trusted entities to support transparent, informed decision-making. 

Understand Farmer Perceptions on Solar and Agrivoltaics

It is also critical to include landowners, especially farmers and ranchers who may own a significant proportion of open land in the area. AFT and other organizations have deployed several state surveys to better understand regional farmer and rancher perceptions and attitudes towards solar deployment and agrivoltaics. These surveys can guide future efforts to protect farmland, support farm viability, and guide solar development. They may also be useful to farmers and landowners to gauge how their peers and tenants perceive solar and agrivoltaics.  

Engage Stakeholders

Policymakers and planners can support responsible solar development by engaging a broad range of stakeholders early in the process. Inviting broad representation of key stakeholders can help identify challenges and opportunities. Involve executive bodies, planning boards, municipal and county planners, and local code officers/building inspectors; clean energy, environmental, economic development, social justice, and consumer advocates; land conservation and other environmental organizations; renewable energy/solar developers; and utility representatives. For communities without formal planning bodies, consult your state energy agency, state agriculture agency, board of public utilities, and the state solar industry trade associations to verify how large utility scale projects are to be reviewed and approved. Involve conservation experts and professionals with a working knowledge of agriculture including USDA NRCS, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, State Department of Agriculture, Extension, and sustainable agriculture organizations. Also involve local agricultural commissions, local farm bureau affiliates, and farmland protection boards.

Explore Solar Technical Assistance

The Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office and the National Laboratory of the Rockies provide technical assistance to state and local governments, tribes, and other entities to address barriers and improve access to solar energy through the InSPIRE Program. Some technical assistance programs support entities interested in pursuing agrivoltaic projects.

State lawmakers can create policies and programs to encourage and guide the development of agrivoltaic projects. For example, state permitting policies can create a role for state departments of agriculture in developing guidelines and approving projects, require consideration of impacts on prime agricultural land, require decommissioning plans, streamline approval for small or structure-mounted projects, and require increased oversight of larger-scale arrays. Some states offer grant programs to fund research and demonstration projects to advance agrivoltaic implementation. State governments also can encourage agrivoltaics by providing financial assistance for installation and allowing net metering. Some of these incentives have included direct project funding, agricultural rate adders, and property tax adjustments. There may also be state and federal tax incentives and credits available for installing solar. Net metering policies—which allow individuals to sell excess renewable energy back to the grid—can be used to incentivize agrivoltaics, arrays located on preferred sites, smaller arrays, or arrays serving priority populations.  
They are also providing an increasing array of educational resources and technical assistance to support landowners and solar developers.

Local governments can have the authority to plan and enact land use regulations to guide the development of solar arrays. For example, solar development may be addressed in local comprehensive or energy plans. A comprehensive plan is a long-term framework that guides land development at the county or municipal level. It lays the foundation for local land use policies. A local energy plan, which can be standalone or embedded in a comprehensive plan, assesses a community’s past and current energy use, sets future goals, and identifies strategies to balance renewable energy goals with other land uses. These plans can prioritize solar siting on previously disturbed lands, support dual-use solar that allows continued agricultural production, and favor solar projects that deliver multiple community and environmental benefits.  

Local communities may also address solar development using land use regulation, particularly zoning, which may protect productive soils, guide appropriate siting and design, minimize impacts on neighboring properties, and require decommissioning and site restoration. The land use regulations should be tied to the comprehensive or energy plan and help implement its principles.

Agricultural district programs bundle benefits and protections to save land and support farm viability. The programs encourage landowners to form special agricultural areas in exchange for protection and incentives ranging from limits on annexation, eminent domain, and public facility and infrastructure siting to tax incentives and exemptions. Several states have authorized districts. A few states include restrictive agreements or covenants to protect agricultural land for a term of years. Because districts bundle restrictions and benefits, they differ from state-to-state and have varying strategies for solar. 

Agricultural districts are enabled by state law and may have additional regulations at the local level. As such, it is important to understand the program’s framework in your state when considering the ways solar arrays can or cannot be incorporated on land located in an agricultural district. Rollback penalties and conversion penalties are common features of state agricultural district law; however, how states define and treat solar for purposes of property tax and agricultural exemption can and do vary. 

Some states offer programs that purchase agricultural conservation easements (PACE programs) from willing landowners to keep land available for agriculture. These programs often are administered by state departments of agriculture. ACEs are deed restrictions that protect agricultural land from development. They may limit subdivision, non-farm residential development and other uses that are inconsistent with commercial agriculture. They may limit the scale of solar installations to meet on-farm energy needs or may require an additional approval process to consider solar installations on a case-by-case basis. To find out what is permitted on protected farms in your state, check with the agency that implements the easement purchase program for relevant program regulations and/or easement provisions

Right-to-farm laws are designed to accomplish one or both of the following objectives: (1) to strengthen the legal position of farmers when neighbors sue them for private nuisance; and (2) to protect farmers from anti-nuisance ordinances and unreasonable controls on farming operations. Most laws include a number of additional protections. 

Right to Farm protections may be extended to “on-farm solar” that is limited to serving the farm operation, but not extended to commercial-scale installations that are meant to serve off-site consumers. 

New Jersey has issued regulations that outline specific requirements solar arrays on farmland must meet in order to receive the protection of its right to farm law. These regulations provide siting standards related to height, area, setback, screening, and more in an attempt to limit the impact on neighboring properties and soil productivity. 

Use value assessment programs (also known as current use or differential assessment) are the most common form of real property tax relief. They assess property taxes based on the agricultural use of the land rather than its highest and best use, often resulting in lower property taxes. Enrollment in these programs usually requires the land to stay in active agricultural use. 

Some states have passed laws and prepared guidelines for installing solar arrays on land enrolled in use value assessment programs. These regulations vary in how they approach adding solar to farmland. They might clearly establish that solar development is not permitted on enrolled land or may allow limited solar development based on the system’s size, land use footprint, the percentage of energy used by the farm, or on a case-by-case basis.