Letter: Solar vs. farmland letter overlooks several facts

While I respect Mr. Huddleston’s opinion, I believe the comparison between solar development and productive farmland overlooks several key facts.

The claim that farmland would be more valuable covered with solar panels than growing crops overlooks several important facts about agriculture. While about 40% of U.S. corn is used for ethanol, that corn does not simply become fuel. During the ethanol process, a significant portion of each bushel becomes distillers’ grains, a high-protein livestock feed used by cattle, dairy, and poultry producers. In other words, farmland used for ethanol is producing both fuel and animal feed, supporting our energy supply and food system at the same time.

Farmers also rotate crops year to year, often alternating corn with soybeans or other crops. Crop rotation helps improve soil health, reduce pests and disease, maintain nutrients in the soil, and improve long-term productivity for farmers. Once farmland is converted to a large solar installation, that land is generally removed from crop production for decades and no longer provides those agricultural benefits.

Large solar installations can remove productive farmland from food production for 20–40 years, and research shows that soil compaction, erosion, and changes to soil conditions during construction may take decades to fully recover after the project is removed.

Solar energy may play a role in our future, but suggesting it provides greater overall benefit than farming ignores the multiple roles farmland already serves in producing food, livestock feed, fuel, and maintaining healthy soil through crop rotation.

John Kaltenbache
Holland

Sources:

U.S. Energy Information Administration – https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=35912

Renewable Fuels Association – https://ethanolrfa.org/upload/files/Library/Fact%20Sheet/coproducts_brief_2025.pdf

USDA Crop Rotation and Soil Health – https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/state-offices/indiana/soil-health-indiana