American Farmland Trust is hosting a webinar on advancing Smart Solar Principles. 

In the online session they will highlight cutting edge research being led by Cornell University and its Sustainable Solar Initiative.

The event will be interactive with questions and discussions. The session is intended to inform farmers, farm advisors and others interested in the future of New York Farmland. 

The US Department of Energy estimates we need more than 10 million acres to scale up solar energy by 2050 and American Farmland Trust projects over 80% could be sited on agricultural land. With passage of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and ambitious clean energy targers now set in state law, New York is at the forefront of this energy transition and associated land use challenges. This growth will create opportunities, but it also threatens farmland, and the conflict between using land to grow food and using it to produce energy is generating public backlash against renewable energy development overall. 

Farmland in NY and across the Northeast is already under threat from residential and commercial development- nationally, poorly planned development and rural sprawl consume 2,000 acres of agricultural lands daily. AFT's most recent study Farms Under Threat 2040: Choosing an Abundant Future shows if we continue this business-as-usual development over 450,000 acres of NY farmland could be converted or lost by 2040. Implementing smart solar principles and advancing critical research will help NY to accelerate solar energy development, strengthen farm viability and safeguard land well-suited for farming.