Farm Bill 2.0 Solar Debate

Congress has been working in the House Ag Committee on getting the Farm Bill No. 2. It’s a five-year farm bill legislation that would extend many of the major decisions that were made in the big, beautiful bill passed early. One flashpoint came up during this markup, which involved federal support for solar installations on farmland. The bill would limit U.S. Department of Agriculture funding for solar arrays larger than five acres, although projects up to 50 acres could still qualify if most of the electricity that they generated was used on the farm.

There’s also a rooftop and builded mounting panels would not be affected. Supporters of these restrictions argue that these large scale solar projects are removing productive farmland from agriculture and has been doing that for decades. Representative Dave Taylor, a Republican of Ohio, said solar arrays are taking vast swaths of farmland into large term leases.

Austin Scott of Georgia said he has seen forests cleared to make way for large solar installations. And Democrats attempted to remove the restrictions, calling on a potential barrier for renewable energy development was needed in these rural communities. Well, that was from Bunzinski.

Ultimately, he withdrew his amendment after a lengthy debate.

Audio Reporting by Tyron Spearman for Southeast AgNet.