From a distance, the small solar farm in Middle Tennessee looks like other small solar farms now populating rural America, rows of black panels that absorb the sun’s rays to generate electricity.
But beneath these panels is lush pasture instead of gravel, where a small herd of cattle spends their days munching grass and resting in the shade.
Silicon Ranch, which owns a 40-acre farm in Christiana outside Nashville, sees cattle grazing as the next frontier in so-called agrivoltaics, which mostly involves growing crops or grazing sheep under panels.
The solar company launched the project this week and will spend the next year working to prove to farmers that much larger cattle can thrive on solar sites. If successful, supporters say, it could kick-start new projects to meet soaring power demands from rapid expansion of data centers without causing climate-warming carbon emissions and help cattle farmers preserve their land and livelihoods.
“Solar energy is one of the most powerful tools we have to reduce emissions … and is cost-competitive with fossil fuels,” said Taylor Bacon, a doctoral student at Colorado State University who studies the ecological consequences of solar-powered grazing lands. “I think we’re starting to see enough research to show that if done right, land use can be more of an opportunity than a drawback.”
Although there are far more cattle than sheep in the United States, their size poses challenges for solar power plants, as expensive equipment and animals weighing more than half a ton must be protected.
Solar panels typically rotate at a near-vertical angle to capture the sun’s rays, leaving little room for cattle underneath; simply raising the panels is costly due to the amount of steel required. So Silicon Ranch raised the panels slightly and also developed software that workers can activate while the cattle are grazing to turn the panels to a near-horizontal position, giving them room to roam, said Nick de Vries, the company’s chief technology officer.
Workers rotate the herd (currently 10 cows and their calves) between paddocks every few days to keep the panels on the ungrazed portion of the property operational, providing about 5 megawatts of power to Middle Tennessee Power, a rural electric cooperative.
Company officials say they hope the technology will eventually become more widely adopted.
“We know it works,” DeVries said. “But you need to prove it to other people.”
Agricultural land is generally easier for solar companies to develop than other types of land. But many farmers— and community -Need to be convinced that solar grazing will benefit them, as past practices destroyed topsoil and put the land permanently out of production.
“For many agricultural stakeholders, it is distasteful to see prime farmland being graded and stockpiled while this is the legacy of farm families,” said Ethan Winter, national director of smart solar for the American Farmland Trust.
But he sees the potential for solar grazing partnerships to help farmers keep their land productive and earn extra income at a time when it’s increasingly difficult to make money from farming and ranching alone.
“Agriculture is in a very difficult position right now,” Winter said, citing factors including trade wars, extreme weather, rising costs and sales pressure. “So maybe now is a moment where we can help states meet their energy needs and do it in a way that provides new opportunities for farmers.”
Since launching five years ago, Silicon Ranch will have nearly 15,000 acres of pasture available for grazing this year, mostly sheep, and is working with ranchers, farmers, university researchers and others to adopt best practices for keeping soil and animals healthy.
Anna Clare Monlezun, a rancher and rangeland ecosystem scientist involved in the Tennessee project, said they found that pastures beneath solar panels retained more water, making them more drought tolerant. Grazing in the shade can make animals less susceptible to heat stress, causing them to gain weight and drink less water.
“There are more win-wins than trade-offs,” she said.
Kevin Richardson, senior director of the American Solar Grazing Association, said sheep have proven to be well-suited for solar sites, with more than 130,000 acres grazed as of 2024, and that number is sure to grow.
But for cattle, the industry still must overcome site design challenges and be able to scale operations while creating the right economic incentives for ranchers, Richardson said.
“Once we do that, I think we’ll see more solar sites using cattle or multiple species grazing alongside sheep and cattle,” he said.
By leasing land for solar power, farmers typically earn about $1,000 per acre, which is 10 times more than they used to earn through conventional farming, said Farmland Trust’s Winter. This could help them diversify their business, pay down debt and buy more land.
“I think you’re going to start hearing increased interest from farmers who are now facing serious financial hardship and are looking for opportunities to diversify their income to keep their land productive,” Winter said. “We need and want to increase America’s energy capabilities, but not at the expense of our best farmland or agricultural livelihoods.”
Photo: A youngster at Christina’s ranch. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
___
AP’s climate and environment coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The Associated Press is solely responsible for all content. Find AP standard For working with charities, a list of supporters and funded coverage is at Associated Press.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
theme
tennessee
