A Bountiful Harvest: Agrivoltaics Blends Solar Energy With Agriculture in Innovative Research Project at University of Missouri

May 01, 2024

By Shannon Beck

As solar-generated electricity is increasing, some landowners are pondering converting land used to produce food to land used to produce energy, but what if they could do both? What if they didn’t have to choose?

Agrivoltaics is a new concept that blends solar energy production with agricultural uses like row crops or pastureland, and researchers at the University of Missouri’s Central Missouri Research, Extension and Education Center (CM-REEC) are looking to answer many questions about the new practice with its new demonstration site.

“As a research institution, we are looking at this as an opportunity to showcase technology and environmental stewardship,” said Dusty Walter, CM-REEC director. “It’s going to be a great way to educate the public about the possibilities to integrate climate smart, environmentally friendly power production with food production.”

The demonstration site will focus on the potential to graze animals under solar panels, which will be configured differently to accommodate the dual usage. The field will feature solar panels spaced further apart and mounted much higher than traditional solar field panels. This will allow space for the livestock and machinery needed to maintain the pasture below as well as allow sunlight to reach grasses while also providing shade to the animals.

Walter noted that the setup is similar in concept to silvopasture — the integration of trees in pastures.

The specially-designed solar panel layout will produce power and facilitate light reaching the grass. With space between the panels, the patches of shade will move as the sun moves across the sky. While the panels move to track and capture maximum light, the shade will create an area of pasture that reduces animal stress over summer months.

The demonstration site will be located at South Farm just outside of Columbia, Mo., and is part of the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources’ (CAFNR’s) new Digital Agriculture Research and Extension Center (DAREC). The goal is to provide farmers with data-driven information about the emerging technology while giving them an opportunity to visualize what the configuration may look like on their own land.

“This is going to add to the opportunities we have to showcase technology — to showcase environmental impact,” Walters said. “For agriculture, it’s an opportunity to show how ag can drive energy production. With crops you have the potential to produce biofuels. In Missouri, cattle farms are going to have potential for solar production.”

Researchers will be collecting data to analyze multiple aspects of the demonstration site including animal performance, forage and grass performance and energy production.

Source : missouri.edu

Video: Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Turning Plant Defense Into a Management Strategy

Understanding how a plant responds to stress is one thing.

Using that knowledge to make better management decisions is another.

Systemic acquired resistance, or SAR, is the plant's more direct defense response. When stress or infection occurs, the plant begins signaling throughout its system and preparing defensive compounds.

But if we know that response exists, can we help prepare the plant before the stress arrives?

The answer starts with understanding what triggers the response and what the plant needs to carry it out.

The Trigger and the Fuel

Salicylic acid plays an important role in triggering the SAR pathway.

Think of it as turning the truck on.

The engine may be running, but it still needs fuel to do the work.

In this case, manganese plays an important role in supporting the enzyme systems involved in the plant's defensive response.

This makes manganese status an important part of the conversation. Whether a producer is using tissue testing, sap analysis, or simply scouting for visible deficiency symptoms, the goal is to make sure the plant has adequate manganese available.

Manganese is required in relatively small amounts, but that does not make its role small.

If the plant receives a signal to defend itself but lacks the nutrition needed to support that response, it may struggle to carry out the process efficiently.

The trigger matters.

The fuel matters too.

Prepare Before the Stress Arrives

The best time to think about stress management is before the plant is overwhelmed.

Once a crop is already struggling, management can quickly turn into a game of catch-up.

This is similar to nitrogen management. Once a plant becomes severely deficient, correcting the problem does not necessarily erase the time and yield potential already lost.

Plant defense can work the same way.

Low-rate, targeted approaches designed to support the SAR pathway may fit best ahead of an expected stress event rather than after significant damage has already occurred.

That requires producers to think about predictable stress.

We may not know exactly what the weather will do tomorrow, but we generally know summer heat is coming. We know certain field conditions increase disease pressure. We know a herbicide application can temporarily stress a crop as the plant processes the chemistry.

Even a properly timed and labeled herbicide application can create a temporary response in the plant.

That does not mean the herbicide is bad.

Weeds can create significantly more yield loss than the temporary stress caused by controlling them.

The question is not whether we should eliminate every stressor.

The question is whether we can better prepare the plant to manage necessary and predictable stress.

Not All Stress Is Bad

Stress is a normal part of plant growth.

A perfectly stress-free environment does not exist in the field.

In fact, some stress is necessary for normal plant development. A plant responds to wind, temperature, moisture, sunlight, and countless other environmental signals throughout the season.

The environment is stress.

The plant's job is to manage it.

Problems begin when the stress load becomes greater than the plant's ability to respond.

Extreme heat, drought, high salt concentrations, disease pressure, and even certain management practices can add to that load.

This is where understanding SAR becomes useful.

Instead of waiting until the plant is visibly struggling, producers can begin identifying periods when stress is likely and make management decisions around those windows.

ISR Starts With the Soil

While SAR is a more direct defense response, induced systemic resistance, or ISR, brings the conversation back to soil health.

The longevity of a farm is closely connected to the health of its soil.

Carbon plays a major role because it supports biological life within the soil. Bacteria, fungi, and other organisms interact with plant roots and influence how the plant grows, accesses nutrients, and prepares for stress.

This is why soil health cannot be reduced to one product or one application.

It is a system.

Keeping living plants in the field longer can support biological activity. Cover crops may fit some operations. Better water management can improve soil conditions.