Doral Renewables Partners with American Farmland Trust to Expand Smart Solar? Initiative

Jun 09, 2025

By Michael Shulman

Doral Renewables LLC (Doral) and American Farmland Trust (AFT) are proud to announce a long-term partnership to advance innovation and sustainability for farming communities across the nation through support for AFT’s Smart Solar initiative.

More than 10 million acres of land will be needed to meet America’s renewable energy goals by 2050, with 80% of this development slated to occur on agricultural lands. At the same time, solar development can create opportunities for farm families to build generational viability and keep land in agriculture. AFT, a national non-profit organization that focuses on protecting farmland, promoting sound farming practices, and keeping farmers on the land, is a national leader in agriculturally compatible solar development. Through this partnership, AFT and Doral seek to further solutions that help build long-term farm viability while scaling up domestic energy generation.

AFT’s Smart Solar principles will help guide this work, which seeks to accomplish three equally important goals: (1) safeguard land well-suited for agriculture, (2) strengthen farm viability, and (3) accelerate solar energy development.

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Video: Alberta Honey: A Day at Molenkamp Honey Farms

When was the last time you read the label on your honey?

We spent a day at Molenkamp Honey Farms with Michael Molenkamp, who has been keeping bees for 17 seasons and runs three to four thousand hives. In mid-September, he was finishing treatments and getting his bees ready for winter, and he walked us through how Alberta honey gets made.

Alberta has just 150 commercial beekeepers running 300,000 colonies, and together they produce 40% of Canada’s honey. Long summer days and golden canola fields give Alberta honey a light flavour that’s hard to match anywhere else.

Molenkamp calls Alberta beekeepers some of the most resilient farmers he knows. There’s plenty of Alberta honey to go around, but a lot on our shelves isn’t from here, so his ask is simple. Give the label a second look and choose honey made by Alberta beekeepers, or buy straight from a beekeeper near you.