How Solar Panels Are Changing Agriculture - Agrivoltaics Revisited
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- Опубліковано 27 бер 2023
- How Solar Panels Are Changing Agriculture - Agrivoltaics Revisited. Visit the SPAN website to get a quote and start the process of having SPAN in your home link.undecidedmf.com/span2. Experiments in agrivoltaics (solar panels plus farming) have had some really promising results over the last year, like using new technology (luminescent solar concentrators) to double food production and implementing AI systems to better harvest sunlight … but is getting twice the use per acre really a win-win for sustainable farming and renewable energy? It takes a certain type of vegetable to thrive in these environments, and the upfront costs for this technology can be crippling. Can tech and AI really enter the food production industry and reshape it, like they’ve done for so many others?
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Also check out our first Agrivoltaics video; Solar Panels Plus Farming? Agrivoltaics Explained • Solar Panels Plus Farm...
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Sun'Agri - sunagri.fr/en/
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So do you think agrivoltaics is worth pursuing? Visit the SPAN website to get a quote and start the process of having SPAN in your home link.undecidedmf.com/span2.
If you liked this video, check out Cooling Our Homes Without Electricity? ua-cam.com/video/oLt-X13CgQc/v-deo.html
Yes... for sure.
Plants do not require full sun all day.. they have a DLI (depending on each plant type and cultivar) and we can literally power entire states like Iowa by covering the corn fields with solar... it's basically energy we can capture right now, with real world tech (that is only getting better like you prove every year... solar is constantly getting superior at harvesting energy for later use)
Yes, peaked and tuned light can get that early start needed in colder areas. With shorter hours of light in the spring. Sucking hot air off top of greenhouses and putting in ground does help. Don't dry out your roots. Diversity of crops is key. Michigan is 2nd most diverse agriculture state and 10 in production by weight and monetary in the nation. It's a combination of things not just one. Hugelkulture, terra preta, and bio char for soil health. Most soil is fungal dominated. If planet does or is cooling we will take huge hit to food production. I am a big fan of passive solar. But having solar to pump water is great use. Still think we should plant Nathan Stubblefields earth batteries with micro fractal wiring under fields and foundations. The same things that make a field grow good make earth batteries produce more electric. Not a huge amount of electric but enough to charge battery bank 24/7.
Long before I heard about agrivoltaics, I already thought about the benefits that solar panels can have by providing shade in hotter and drier environments, that are at or over the limit of where crops can still be grown. Solar panels could potentially make it possible to grow food in areas where it's not possible, and at the same time provide energy as well.
I’m so excited you’re continuing to do more agriculture related videos! I think it has the most underestimated coming revolution in how different countries invest in each other’s tech and industry and how countries use their own natural resources.
I hope you have more agricultural content on the way!
Given that we own a couple hundred acres of arable land in Central Georgia, this could be something of great interest to us. But we're not interested in leveraging our property to take advantage of that. We might be interested in something that would generate an income stream for us and that could be passed to our heirs if such an arrangement could be had.
Definitely a great synergy between the 2 uses of land. I also keep thinking that every parking lot in the world should be covered with photovoltaics: create electricity, provide shade & a limited rain shelter.
I’m with you on that one. I’m seeing that more and more where I live. Makes so much sense.
Very small parking lots should be exempt but the rest should have the photovoltaic requirementas part of the permitting process
I was in Vegas and couldn't figure out why I didn't see more as well, especially around apartment complexes. But there I just answered my own question and it's because of associations...
There should probably just be fewer parking lots in the first place
@@birdrocketWell…we did “ pave paradise “! 🎶🎶🎶🎶🧐
You know rather than cover crops I would rather see every parking lot in the US covered with solar panels. Easier maintenance and they are probably closer to the place that will use the power.
Brilliant! You'd have to factor in the excess heat reflected back up from the cement/asphalt in certain climates, but then there are always little qwerks to be worked out in new tech applications. It could also be considered covered parking, a perk. Hmmmm...!
No, build shops and more homes on them, and focus on building solar on homes and shops across the metro (Buildings should be priority, and then rural solar next.) And if you really need the parking, stack it like how we often do here in Auckland's town centres.
This will create metro centres that would reduce car usage and miles by increasing amenity proximity. And you don't even necessarily need to do the homes to achieve a good reduction in pollution. Despite what some people may think, there is huge suppressed easy-to-release, latent demand for more ammenties in the US. There are a lot of stupid planning laws e.g. mandatory minimum parking which benifits bigbox monolopolies/duopolies/etc and artificially pushes other ammenties out. And then they have the gull to ban people from setting up businesses in their own homes...
Also, since the US isn't regulating car sizes right now... there's would be even more damage to the solar poles in those parking lots!
Exactly! If we put these things in our cities we could offset the electrical costs, EV cars are gonna be main stream soon so it’s perfect to have a power source for all the chargers
Every parking lot in the US? Unlimited power
Parking lots, farms, buildings? Solar panel everything!
I remember reading about the symbiosis between solar panels and sheeps. Because the sheeps can rest in the shade under the solar panels, they are more cool, so they sweat less and so they produce better quality wool. Idk how but this reminds me of that.
That's definitely agrivoltaics, and there are several farms like that in my area.
@@kelliott7864 Where do you live? I haven't seen any agrivoltaic farms out here but maybe I just don't know about them.
Sounds right. Just a side note, the singular & plural is sheep😊
Lists of rural objections to solar farms is the loss of food productive land. No mention of the high water, fertiliser/crop dusting, needed to produce animal crops or some food crops (almonds, rice, ethanol crop, red meat) or gov subsidies. The same power needed to power farms and local towns is from "anywhere but near us".
Back in the days we used good ol' trees. Gave shade, stopped erosion, captured carbon, gave fruits, also damn cheap easy maintenance and once they died we returned them to the earth
I love the idea of agrivoltaics and always find it an interesting topic - because I have experienced the waste of potential since my gardening career started in plant nurseries.
Back in the day, we had to hand wind shades over the glasshouse roofs - or worse - climb up on the roof itself and paint it with lime wash (that is a horrible, scary, very hot job, wearing a hazmat suit to protect skin against the caustic lime). I can't even begin to guess how much potential energy was lost, had we only access to ways of capturing all that unwanted light and heat.
Although I am no longer in the nursery industry, I am currently raising a permaculture/wildlife project on my 2 acre garden and have seen for myself how the extra heat and sunlight we're receiving in our changing Scottish summers are affecting my own plants.
To give one example, with regard to my redcurrant plants, the unusually hot, dry, sunny summer of last year reduced my fruit harvest by a little. (But then this is Scotland and I didn't have to endure temperatures anything like those experienced in the south of Britain (my 31C compared to 40C recorded at Heathrow Airport).
However, the 'big difference' could be seen with the currant leaves. Normally, one leaf will cover more than half my hand. Last year, they weren't half their normal size, there were fewer of them, all of the leaves were a little bit yellowed or scorched, and many fell earlier than normal in Autumn - all due to climate stress.
You might think that this wouldn't matter, that as long as I had a decent fruit harvest it would be okay. But no! Falling leaves in Autumn is an essential resource, they break down to feed the soil, the more the merrier, the larger they are the merrier still. I value the leaves (edible or not!) of any fruit plant in my garden as much as the fruit itself.
Larger leaves also gives the plants more energy, thus fuelling more 'new' plant growth, enabling greater harvests on more, longer stems in the next year.
Equally important to me, that new vegetative growth also provides me with extra propagation material to extend the number of plants I have. Last year, for the first time in 3 years, I had less propagating material by the end of the season. It was reduced by (approximately) one third new vegetative growth. I need to propagate new growths every year because fruit bushes perform best when they are still relatively young. It's in my best interests to employ a system of regular plant replacement to keep everything at its best.
For the past 2 years, through necessity, I have started moving my currant plants (and gooseberries) into the shade set by larger, more heat/sun tolerant plants (such as under the apples and cherries).
For me, that's fine.
I can do this because I have the luxury of 'time' to cope with digging up and moving plants, and then dealing with multiple harvest times from multiple species. But I pity the farmer who has a monoculture set-up in his fields. He can't plant different trees and bushes in the style I do, the manpower needed at harvest time would be beyond the ridiculous, the prices of produce in supermarkets outlandish as a result.
So, an elevated solar panel system to protect monoculture crops that either need or benefit from a little shade while enabling machinery to access crops would be a real bonus for farmers.
I hope prices of this type of solar array come down, not just for the farms but also because I can see the advantage in this for myself and other small home growers.
It's useful to hear about the compounding interactions - thanks for the write-up
Higher C02 also puts plants under stress as they find nitrogen harder to make. Plants cannot just alter fast to higher average daytime temp. Lits more vines in south England but you cant survive on grapes.
Thank you for taking the time to explain your POV.
Agrivoltaics is one of the things I'm most excited about. Doubling up on land use can help prevent natural spaces we still have from needing to be disturbed. I would also love to see solar panels put up in animal agriculture, as a way to provide shade to keep animals from overheating/ being less productive (cows make less milk/grow slower when hot). Plus, things like grazing sheep under solar installations feeds the sheep and eliminates the need to mow under the panels, or use cover like rocks/asphalt, which could potentially overheat the panels. I've also seen a few comments talking about parking lot solar, and I completely agree. If we have to have all of these parking lots, let's cover them in energy production, with the added bonus of not getting rained on, or keeping your car from becoming an oven. The energy could even get funneled right into charging EVs in the lot.
Vertical mount "solar fencing" is the most promising of the agrivoltaics setups out there because it has the same cost as regular ground mount PV, doesn't use more materials, and doesn't cast much shade on the crops growing. Moreover, it peaks in power generation in the morning and late afternoon, which more closely tracks when there is demand and it still provides great wind protection to crop fields. This is agrivoltaics that are ready to scale now.
If the panels are double sided, they usually are more expensive.
And I guess they'd more susceptible to degrade against wind.
Hopefully solutions for those problems will arise as well.
Look up bifocal solar panels
I haven't looked into these so forgive me for ignorance, but I'd assume they'd be less efficient b3cause they are vertical and not pointing the sun, and also have a permanent shadow behind them so zero crop growth there
@@John...44... The idea is to place them facing the morning/sunset sun. The sun makes and arch over them, so they get almost 0 light at its zenith, (and the plant will get the sunlight) but a lot more sun at hours were normal panels aren't hit. If you combine them with traditional ones, it helps level the power curve.
@@drillerdev4624 ah OK, that makes sense, but it would produce less electricity throughout the whole day, but it would produce more when other panels are producing less
Certain plants will respond to UV and IR waves of light - experiments show that some species use them as growth cues, something to consider regarding LSC panels
The h2arvester seems like a solution looking for a problem. The rest I love. I am wondering how well the tall scaffolding holds up to strong winds, would be sad to see the once per centaury(now decade) storms rip everything out.
None of that scaffolding is much higher then a single story building. Very much a "known solution" in engineering. And tons of stuff in our existing infrastructure has simular specs. (Traffic lights, streetlights, highway signs...)
Yeah I dont get that one at all. Like ok, if you are harvesting solar energy and storing it as leaky hydrogen (what a waste), why do you need to move it around at all? Why wouldnt you use stationary mounted panels and tilt them to track the sun? Its not providing any real amount of shade, its not going to do any real heavy farm work... it just seems like, hey we can drive a solar panel around, give us startup money!
I thought H2arvester seemed a bit pointless. Then Matt mentioned hydrogen. . .
I've read a couple of article recently talking about vertical, bifacial panel placement in a north-south orientation. The panels are mounted on poles and look like fences. Yes the power generated drops at noon, but output is higher in the morning and afternoon due to the bifacial nature of the panels. Vertical mounting is easy and they are placed in long rows, set some distance apart to prevent shading. Maintenance is easy as they are pretty much at ground level. I would imagine this would work well in an agrivoltaic scenario as well. It would not provide crop shading, but some crops don't need or want that. I think vertical mounting would offer another option for agrivoltaic installations.
Here in France, Photosol uses panels at about 1.5m minimum. The ground is left as grazing for sheep, which avoids the grass / weed cutting. Win-Win for everyone (even the sheep who have sun / rain shelter)
Thank you for this deep dive video on agrivoltaics. I love it when you return to previously discussed subjects like this to do updates or go deeper into discussions.
As for agrivoltaics itself... Yes, it looks like an area with great potential. I hope they keep working on it.
The fact that you ask, "How far can we push this?" is one of the main reasons I subscribed to this channel.
What chemicals may leach from the panels over time, and how may that affect crop safety? Thanks.
The short answer is: none at all. The deposition of materials in solar cells are for one extremely thin, they are solid, and they're fully encased. The panels themselves are rated/warrantied for 25 years and it is likely that they'll be replaced at or before that time as technology will surely have improved by then to make it financially smart to do so.
The chemicals have already leached when the metals were mined and during manufacturing of the solar panels… just on someone else’s property 😅
This seems brilliant and inevitable to me...might have to bring the cost down a lot first. As someone living in the desert, I'm intrigued by the idea of solar panels that allow some light to pass through -- it seems like there's potential for shading people's back yards AND generating energy.
Incredibly interesting! Thanks Matt for such an informative take on the recent developments in the Agrovoltaics industry.
Kudos from India!
Thanks for watching!
As he said, money makes the world go round, CC is the biggest scam since c0v1d.
Some things he says don't make sense, like the wavelengths of light, I'd like to see this study and see the data, especially the impact on the photovoltaic system. The plants used in the study, as different plants need different conditions. Then there's management of the crops and ease of management, I can't see a combine harvester driving around the panels for instance, furrowing or seeding machines.
It seems like a city person had a brainwave and hasn't thought about the practicality at all and I don't take someone's word at face value, especially when it doesn't make logical sense.
@@UndecidedMF Maybe you can examine FACIAL RECOGNITION software adoption for AG. Individual plants are identified and given individual attention, like insecticide or different amounts and types of fertilizers.
And does everybody realize that the space that we need to build our solar panel energy grid are you exists there called parking lots all we have to do is build a frame over all parking lots so that there can be solar panels almost put up as a roof and then when you pull into the parking lot you basically be underneath the solar panel those businesses would no longer need to pay for snow removal because the parking lots would all be protected and we wouldn’t be using valuable land to put solar panels on not to mention it would actually create a nice cooling a fact because when tarmac gets hot it radiates Versus covered tarmac does not do that so there’d be much cooler temperatures in and around the cities
Here in the Netherlands we have a lot of angry and anxious farmers. So if there's something that can benefit both farmers and the environment, then I think it's a good thing. We also don't have much nature left and land comes at a premium, so if land can be used for multiple purposes then it's a win as well. It may also reduce the cost of a solar farm since it's a mutually beneficial cooperation. The people who own the solar farm will benefit from cheap or free land, and the farmer benefits from better crop productions.
(The edit was to include the word "benefit" in the 2nd sentence. Apparently ai forgot to type that)
My suggestion would be to let this new technology take over organically rather than forcing it on a population that doesn't want it and isn't ready for it. This is not a brand new miracle technology this is a bullshit scam technology that's being forced on us like all this other environmental crap that turns out to be much worse once you look behind the scenes. Vertical farming produces nutrient deficient chemically bathed food. Might as well eat lab grown meat while we're at it
You obviously have no idea about the Dutch Farming model that is currently being questioned. It’s a few notches over the already destructive intensive farming model.
Now go and tell these guys they are gonna have to drive their machinery around solar panels….
Lmao you angry at the people ther grow you food is the last people you want to make angry at you
@@DanskerneFraDanmark i am from a farming family…..
@@DanskerneFraDanmark The vast majority of it is exported to other countries. And I'm pretty sure there's nothing that can't be grown/raised somewhere else. Our family gets some things directly from our local farmers, so we do support them.
Export is also important to the economy, but a healthy ecosystem ensures that our farmers still have a job in the (near) future. So a healthy ecosystem is also very important to our economy. It would be nice if we could live in a world where we can have our farmers do their thing and grow to their heart's content (like they used to do) and where we wouldn't have to worry about our ecosystem, but that's sadly not the reality we live in.
If I can prevent ecologic and economic collapse by making a couple farmers angry at me, then that's a price I'm willing to pay
We just got 10 360 watt used panels in for a project related to this, a mix of agrivoltaics and solar tracking. I've been doing some things with Arduino cloud and solar tracking with roof-based large panels, and Arduino cloud based automated irrigation for raised beds, so this seemed like the obvious next step. We'll be building a set of shaded raised beds with 3600 watts of panels that track the sun throughout the day, and charge our Ford Lightning, and power a mini-split for the garage. I plan to attempt to used some machine learning with the arduino(TinyML) to optimize crop shade vs. panel production.
They can cover reservoirs, canals, and car parks with solar canopies while they figure it out.
I'm glad you revisited this.
I am looking to doing a project in Arizona.
North South greenhouses sunk in the earth as far as the roofline.
This should give me the desired aperture for natural sun as well as geothermal advantages.
I feel I can further use PV panels for fine tuning and supplementing light in the winter.
Would you not lose too much heat energy that would normally enter through the sides of the greenhouse?
@@John...44... In Arizona I'm guessing that's not a problem. And being in the ground you'd lose less at night when it can get cold.
You would definitely need new laws. I was told by a county inspector that neither farmland nor residential can have solar panels that put out more than a household circuit breaker. The requirement is it must be zoned industrial in Randolph County.
While in Japan I noticed a peach orchard with trees woven into a grid of iron wire - leaves on top, fruit hanging below. Genius!
Similar to “espalier” tree growing
They do that in japan with Asian pears and kiwis as well. It makes harvesting more convenient and captures nearly 100% of the sunlight.
I Absolutely love your videos man ...... Thank you for the Excellent Quality and the information cant wait for the next one .
Great topic 👍
How will it compare to vertical farming. For certain plants could you do the cheaper lower ground based solar installation and than implement an enclosed vertical grow structure to offset the land lost and also looking long term at water usage....
So many interesting things happening in agriculture today, almost makes me wish I was young and starting out in farming, almost. I remember going out to my grandparents places, both sides. Both had gardens. Dads side had a huge garden, most have been an acre. We have a few square feet in our back yard to grow a few tomatoes and some Zuc's.
Cheers
Aquaponics are also highly efficient use of land area.
Matt you set up a great gig for yourself...I'm sure you're raking in the dough for the vids and sponsors. I've also been a very techie guy for many years, wish I had thought of setting up my own YT ages ago...but I was always busy with education/work or personal life. I'm hoping I can make time in the future to also do YT...but it's a competitive space...we'll see. But you deserve your props for getting on the bandwagon early, lucky man. :)
It is my understanding that one advantage of agrivoltaics is that higher value crops (think arugula vs. beets) can now be grown on farms that in the past were not suitable for these high value crops.
Would love to know if anyone knows of documented cases of this.
I'm interested in learning more about the LSC's. If they can absorb certain lightfrequencies then you could potentiall use them like an inverse hydroponics light, having it only absorb the light frequencies that the plants don't use while letting the ones they do pass through un hindered. Then you could use agrivoltaics on pretty much any type of crop(and it would still absorb enough energy to help prevent heat damage to crops as well, more then likely). If that where the case you could increase energy out put substantially more then what they would currently offer.
Thanks Matt nice one. Another thing to consider is that nearly all farms have non arable land that would be ideal for a solar farm and even though the frames needed to mount the panels would be initially expensive, if they are galvanised and not close too the sea, the frames may not need replacing for over 100 years. Another way farmers can get a little extra cash to get them through the next drought.
A top British physicist with impeccable credentials in working with power engineers, determined that for Britain to meet Zero Dark 2050, (now UN-IPCC is demanding Zero Dark 2030), bringing the nation to solar-power grid capacity would require solar panels on every building roof, solar farms in every park and public space, and solar fields completely covering all arable land up into the foothills, making Britain absolutely dependent on imported food, and on Xanax to temper suicidal impulses of living inside a shadowcast national industrial experiment.
Here in the UK the ground under many solar farms is used for grazing sheep, I suppose that’s another dual use alternative.
I have been working on agrivoltaics & ai for the past 2 years. Hope to have financing for a project this year. It is definitely happening...it is the future. Thanks for your presentation.
What would you use the ai for?
Great video. We need to increase our food production
This will be very important as our climate changes. Protecting crops and producing clean energy. And as others have commented, parking lots, warehouses, supermarkets etc etc should be legally required to fit solar panels.
This is my favourite technology you have highlighted on your channel. It is the one that people get sick of me talking about, agrovoltaics are the future and if the farm is big enough they could also establish a virtual power plant with non Li-ion batteries as they will have the land available for larger energy storage systems. thank you for the update video.
Just getting my roof-mounted system connected. Then moving on to additional solar applications free-standing. This video adds another potential solar generation site on my homestead, over my hydroponic garden. Thanks.
What would be clever is to use the solar panels to collect water and provide shelter for livestock in winter, while providing shade to vulnerable plants in the summer.
Instead of having rows and rows in one field, these could be spread out/diffusely placed to reduces damage to soil and prevent high concentrations of manure. This avoids the problems associated with monoculture/CAFO livestock model. This better meets both farm and electrical grid needs while reducing overall infrastructure and farmer costs.
I am so happy there is enough progress on this for you to revisit the topic. Exciting news indeed.
At-p-volts is definitely a good idea but as with many things over complicated systems are negatively affect the wide spread adoption. Applying the KISS principle and the costs get reasonable!
Thanks for the update!
I love this idea and seeing more research being put into it. There were people fighting against a solar farm further up north from me in WI and it seems that they have a lot of misinformation about solar and don't know the potential of new technology, like agrivoltaics.
There was a rural community in the eastern US that voted down a large solar farm in their area because numerous scientific illiterates kept telling the community that the panels "would soak up all the sunlight and make the town go dark" or some similar moronic statements.
I've seen a lot of push back as well it's because these solar projects take up a lot of farm land and the type of crops grown in the Midwest can't be grown under solar farms so that productive ag land is now taken out of production and will not be used for farming again which means less land available when large metro areas are already pushing further out
Thanks so much Matt....You put a lot of work in this
Proud of our Wageningen university and its students/ professors and farmers!! Greetings from the Netherlands!
Like aquaponics & other novel farming concepts, these systems work best in small to medium scale. In addition to the cost, one important factor left out of this vid was the maintenance issues & concerns that often fall on the farmers themselves. In addition to irrigation, fencing, & their own finnicky farming equipment, this adds regular maintenance for the thousands of electric motors, panel swivels, & dust clearing to keep the panels producing efficiently. I can see a niche vineyard or touring hobby farm adding panels as another piece of intrigue for the paying guests / tours to offset their power bill, but over 3,000 acres of soybeans in Kansas, not so much.
Why do we need 3000 acres of soybeans in a single spot? If it is for animal feed, go vegan and the shrinking demand reduces supply. However, 3k acres with the single use of soybean farming is a disaster for bio-diversity and the saving of biological nets. We should not forget the bio-diversity crisis we face alongside the climate crisis. This kind of profit seeking economy of scale is just not working any longer, if we want to give our children a recognizable planet.
@@arminb3939
You are talking out of both sides of your mouth.
1) Soybeans are the primary protein for vegan folks. While current soy production is often a rotation w corn for animal feed, halting beef production would INCREASE the demand for soy to sustain current populations. Cutting corn/soy from cattle feed would make the beef healthier, so it's not a competing issue. Most cows are on 'non-arable land', can't be used for field crops.
2) Since a 100% vegan diet would require MORE land under tillage and INCREASED monoculture and HIGHER yields than current w the given population, the often proposed solution is population REDUCTION. Thus you have no children to see the planet you've "saved".
@@theTeslaFalcon Get your facts straight if you want ro make this a vegan discussion. You are easily dismissable, but thats not it, I wanted to talk about bio-diversity and how such huge plantations (mostly for animal feed) destroy biological nets.
@@arminb3939
Get your own facts straight.
U keep bringing up "animal feed" as though that changes the situation.
1 acre of cattle range land =/= to 1 acre of tillable farm land. They don't grow corn or soybeans in the scrubs of TX or MT or ND, millions of cows get fat n happy there.
For every .5 acres of farmland to feed someone in FL, you need another .5 acres to feed someone in Canada. 90% of Canadian food is imported from the US today.
Then there's the whole animal products NECESSARY to grow various plant crops such as blood meal & bone meal for soil health. Soil health = Your health.
@@theTeslaFalcon I am not arguing with a guy named "Tesla Falcon", so here goes ChatGPT for the rebuttal:
While it is true that 1 acre of cattle range land is not equivalent to 1 acre of tillable farm land, it is also important to consider the impact of animal agriculture on biodiversity. Animal agriculture is a leading cause of deforestation, habitat loss, and species extinction, as vast amounts of land are cleared to make way for grazing and feed crops. This not only destroys habitats for countless species but also disrupts entire ecosystems.
Furthermore, it is a misconception that animal agriculture is necessary to produce plant crops. In fact, animal agriculture is incredibly inefficient in terms of land use and resource consumption. It takes far more land and resources to produce animal products than it does to produce plant-based alternatives. By transitioning to plant-based agriculture, we can feed more people using less land and fewer resources, which would help to preserve biodiversity and protect our planet's natural ecosystems.
Lastly, while it is true that certain animal products like blood meal and bone meal can be used for soil health, there are many plant-based alternatives that can be used as well, such as compost, green manure, and cover crops. In fact, relying on animal products for soil health can have negative consequences, such as contributing to soil erosion and water pollution.
In conclusion, while animal agriculture may seem like an efficient way to produce food, it has significant negative impacts on biodiversity and the environment. By transitioning to plant-based agriculture and using sustainable soil management practices, we can feed the world while also protecting our planet's natural ecosystems.
I definitely can see ai being used in the initial set ups of agricultural spots that also use renewable energy production. Give it weather and geographic data, etc., and ai can place ideal spots that have the best outputs, and other ai models can absolutely monitor and create very efficient farm designs and nutrient loads. And considering the solar harvesting tech is always improving, I can easily see not only stationary power/food harvest plots, but also mobile farms to provide fresh produce to rural or impoverished communities. I could even imagine mobile systems that use aeroponics with water harvested from the air.
Ai's ability to create highly efficient set ups is the most exciting aspect I think, technology that would take YEARS to engineer will be done in mere hours. Fresh produce is so important for health, I can only hope this technology can improve health globally.
The water-from-air tech needs a bit more time. That Gates Foundation backed company is pretty cool. There's large scale AWG systems now too, but again $$$/G.
That reminds me a documentary few years ago about China built a solar farm in the Northwest desert and the solar panels reduced the vipration and sun burn which caused wild grass grows much faster so they have to hire people to cut the grass. But later they found the local farmers' sheep like to eat the grass under the solar panels so they let the local farmers to enter solar farm to feed their sheep for free. Now the farmers get better grass for sheep and the solar farm get free grass cutting.
H2arvester: the shape immediately brought to mind Joel Salatin's "eggmobile" for moving pastured poultry (laying their high-value free-range eggs) through rotated paddocks (often employing perimeter electrified netting for predator control). There may be an application in livestock as well as crop farming.
That would be a third value-added component to his system. Very permaculture-oriented!
And then there's the ClusterCluck rolling small-animal stable, for inter-crop use in a regenerative set-up.
Coming from Australia I have always thought agrivoltaics would be most beneficial in arid, remote communities. Generating your own power whilst providing a sheltered environment to grow food is a double win.
The cost example from Germany that was stated, comes from a country that very rarely needs to shade crops for protection. If you included the cost of adding shade protection for the crop, then cost of installation would be on par.
Great video and great info. I definitely think this technology should continue to be explored.
I’ve seen parking lot shade solar panels and I think it’s a great double-use of the space. Who doesn’t like a nice shaded car when it’s blistering hot out? I think they should put those in pastures everywhere because the livestock would certainly like the shade.
Thank you for this video.
Matt, sounds great for crops like grapes that are always grown on the same plots. Many other staple crops, when grown without soil rotations are very deleterious to the soil, so more of those concerns should be how much additional work will be needed at those rotation points to re adjust for the different crops. From recent experiences farmers have some very strong viewpoints about how much outside control they want or will allow into their operations- especially if it's from people far away sitting in conditioned rooms. BTW, I noticed mostly students working on the farms- this idea is headed for an expensive disaster if they don't start involving real farmers from the beginning. Farmers are much more impressed with a number on how much your farm produced last year than by fancy diplomas and degrees. The hint comes with all the youngsters portrayed in the clips this piece was composed of, and tell me that the target audience isn't as much participant as the rhetoric is suggesting. Next week could you do a piece on what tech will be able to do with the algae bloom now landing on Florida's Atlantic shores? Someone suggested that conversion into fertilizers might be a thing- and the present status of the largest producer of liquid nitrated fertilizers (Russia) is among the bigger drivers of food cost increases in the last year- fertilizers have become more expensive than ever before- in many cases farms that do not have bumper crops this year may go broke from the expenses to bring this year's crop's in.
A lot of those young people are from farming families, trying to keep their family business alive. They are real farmers. They have generations of experience and knowledge behind their research. Nothing is being wasted on them.
Many of the degrees in agriculture are the children of farmers, in advanced nations having a degree becomes a must and many young farmers go to college to later implement all that knowledge in their fields
@@jJaqStone Strangely, the farmers I know and grew up around are wondering where the next generation of farmers will come from- two in three leave the farms for college or the city and don't come back to live. And I appreciate you thought- but you have no better idea who those younger folks were than I- I did note there were very few "over 40's"- which would be a bit strange on a farm. And if all those big degrees are looking for something farmers can and will be able to use, having farmers involved as it develops seems a much better idea- there is probably no group more resistant to "new fangled devices and crack brained schemes" than farmers. But some may well be as you say- but the lack of those established farmers gives me pause- those young farmers are considered "junior partners" awaiting their time as principles in the family trust that most farms today are kept in for tax and business purposes- the senior partners will have a clear say till they die- not having them involved is a huge mistake.
@@elciervoparaguayo3756 See my reply to Jaqueline. I'm not saying all of the "youngsters" were from outside, but neither you nor I have anything but belief for either side. I do know a bunch of farm families and that lack of "older, steadier" hands involved from near the beginning will make larger implementation very difficult- this concept involves changes, expensive changes to land investment, movable machinery investment, and considerable changes to how they evaluate their process. Think about trying to tell a one ton rock determinedly going down hill, that you want it to go left or right; farmers resist radical change because too often they have seen such change lead to bankruptcy- and I'll remind you that many farms are held a family trusts with senior partners leading the applied decision process.
I'm not saying this isn't a good idea- it may well be for some types of crops- for others, for instance cereal grains which are mostly very "sun friendly" not so much- and the shizz nit for others. All need much determining work before much implementation will occur. And the piece really left out the reaction of traditional utility companies- many are terrified at the pace the solar revolution is overtaking their monopolies and not very generous in their payouts for energy produced by others.
You don’t need AI to determine the best angle for PVs. Just simple sensors with a simple algorithm can do the job. This approach has been used in the wild for almost as long as PVs have existed.
Sir you are the best. Your thinking is very important. Please let me know if you have considered cyclones and tornadoes into consideration. How can we make installations sturdier.
Definitely something to continue research. I remember that one problem with hydro/aquaponics is maintaining conditions between parties. Could this be thrown into that pot as well? The panels, with AI, assist by controlling light.
Yeah combining solar panels into a aquaponics set up would be busy and a very complex system.
Yet another great video. I'm so excited for the future of tech and farming.
How about covering using reflectors to divert sunlight onto panels to increase a single panel's electricity generation? E.g. compare the cost of 1 panel + 2 reflectors to either 2 or 3 panels. The target you're looking for total cost for the amount of electricity generated. Optimize the ratio by measuring the increase of a single panel's generation with the number of reflectors...it should be easy to hit a sweet spot, e.g. 2 reflectors per panel.
We need to start simple and uncomplicated with this - AI, moving panels, weather monitoring, etc. are all complications that sound fancy but will kill the concept before it’s birthed in a productive sense. Instead of high efficiency expensive panels that are hard to install and ship, etc. - use plastic, light frame panels (these already exist) that can be mounted on lighter frames that can be potentially moved but are also far cheaper and quicker to set up.
Make the frame design adjustable (for height, adjusting for any reflection considerations, matching best fixed placement for catchment, etc). Sure it's not going to be as efficient as moving panels, etc. but the objective is to get it into place, do it cheaply (particularly lowering up-front costs) and do it fast. Also - do it in more types of locations, particularly a WILDLY under-utilised type of site: outer city or urban plots that were former estates, light industrial plots, etc. Think: land which is now disused and wasted yet is right near the city’s grid, water, people to work the plants and maintain the gear, etc.
I envisage that installing these dual-use sites on this type of disused land has a STACK of benefits. There is power generation near consumption point (no power haulage costs and losses) - it can be done in smaller installations to minimise up-front investment and financing costs for the installation. It can also be legislated as mandatory - imagine council mandating that land owners (often developers or firms sitting on these tracts of land waiting for funding for their dream building or for land value appreciation) be made to install even a temporary dual-use configuration that produces electricity for the grid and locally grown produce. They can receive and income from both those operations - the city gets local growing jobs (employment near where people live), has local fresh produce (great for some types of produce that demands optimal freshness such as bok choy which is typically sourced 3-5km from a city already). The city or town has comparatively little cost involvement and if developers are stuck with fronting the costs you just watch how fast these installations get REALLY cheap REALLY quickly. Damn things will probably cost $20 a pop if they get their way.
As for growing - as the land may be polluted or unsuitable for growing itself, use table growing, pots, troughs, hydroponics… All with ideal imported soil. Configure the exposure and shade for the crop; cover it to reduce pest and bird interference. As long as air quality isn’t too dire and the ground isn’t going to affect the pot structures above it then it might be viable. It’s also politically savvy as it’s visible, gets on the news, the “bad guy” developer gets to look good by producing something with this disused land and if they DO develop the plot then the installation can be packed up and moved elsewhere. I’ve seen this done with council mandating disused blocks be converted to temporary parks for city use and it worked extremely well.
Developers win politically as they aren’t seen to be ignoring city needs and sitting on land in a bad way - and councils/governments win politically as they get a win and improvement of green commerce with relatively little cost to themselves. The tech wins as this will develop at hyper speed to cut those costs right down and practices, technology and fundamental design experience will benefit pretty quickly indeed (perhaps much faster than just doing it more expensively on more remote agricultural plots as we see in this video).
As this evolves the experience and development can translate to versions designed specifically for agricultural land use - their version would probably be larger scale and using regular soil. Many farmers already have protect growing areas (e.g. for growing tomatoes, chillis, strawberries, etc.) so I can’t see it being as big a leap. If this type of operation were very well worked out then it’d be a cost-viable option for farmers who want to do this - they could perhaps buy or even lease the installation, in some cases perhaps allow its installation on their land in return for some of the revenue from power generation (and they enjoy cover for the right types of crops).
Lets start pragmatically smaller: easier funding, do it smaller and simpler, get the thing installed, set the precedent and also use the tech/practice learned from doing this to build things such as automated greenhouses or covered growing solutions that could automatically roll out covers in case of hail storms, plagues, etc. (imagine the plastic cover sheets being erected to minimise damage from a hail storm, that could save an entire season’s delicate crop where it would have been wiped out otherwise).
But in the end - exploit resources we don’t exploit now, have it modular and transferrable to various types of land use and location, adjust where the cost and risk profile is worn as many farmers won’t be able to go anywhere near this financially for some time. Starting in a basic and pragmatic fashion makes it happen, evolution of design and method can spread from there.
Well, the biggest problem I see with trying to install solar panels above a farm is that tractors are big. Really big. For example a combine can be up to 40 feet wide and 13 feet tall. Tractors might tow a plow that is 50 feet wide. Also it's going to be REALLY hard to replace a tire or dig it out of the mud if there are poles everywhere. What happens if it catches fire? This concept would only be viable for crops that can be planted and harvested with small farm equipment.
always a great watch keep up the great work matt
Sweet stuff.. did you see Matt.. that the least industry of jobs changed by Ai, is going to be agriculture? Yet... all this stuff needs to be invented FOR agriculture. It's almost like people are being forced into learning agriculture and tech 😎
Pam here….I have also seen solar with pastured animals. The panels provide shade and protection, allows growth of pasture grasses for food in areas that would not be optimal. Can do easy pasture rotation with the panel infrastructure to create the paddocks.
I work for a wholesale greenhouse with 30 acres under roof. This is a common question I get when hosting facility tours. The greenhouse itself is harvesting solar energy in the for of heat. On a sunny, but cold winter day it can be below freezing outside, but the environmental control systems still open vents to release excess heat.
A few years back I seen something about smart Farms where they were having robots do, selective fertilizing, selective pesticides, even monitoring moisture concentration, combination of those two tech fields would really be interesting to see.
Yeah, using expensive robots, that'll bring food costs down, NOT!
@@MarilynStangl it would do the same thing to food prices as the tractor did. More costly at first, but as it became more mainstream prices world drop. Main thing, it would be better for the soil.
I adore all your videos bro, you've given me so much hope. Aroha from Aotearoa - NZ
So cool! This, rooftops, parking lots, canals: I’m really glad we’re getting creative with where we put solar panels. If we can make current development more productive instead of developing new land that’s an even bigger win for everyone
You could also extend thin film poly sheets between the panels to extend the growing season and protect against frost
I have read many articles about some farmers protesting solar installations that replace agricultural land. This would solve their problems, as you can have both by increasing crop and energy production. Farmers would also have another source of income. If the costs of installation could be brought down, then this is a real solution. Thanks for another very interesting video.
As usual its a wonderful series with another wonderful addition to the video... However .. a small suggestion please include time stamps
Love the idea of transparent panels rhis might be a good solution to expand plants used since each has demands on the light sectrum it requires. Blue makes foliage and red helps fruiting and I'm sure tech could really get this down to a science. One issue I see is space I really like the idea of vertical farming and think if you mixed those together it would be even more productive and perhaps more cost efficient???
Agrivoltaics are brilliant. All bugs will be worked out in due time and the cost will come down, like with any technology.
What an exciting system. Using solar in conjunction with other functions; parking, agriculture, backyard gardens, cars?, building roofs, [new function here], is clearly the smart way to exploit and maximize solar's potential. This can only get better.
Agrivoltaics offers the best opportunity for farmers to enhance their current operations and take advantage of the benefits of solar production. Increased crop yield potential, reduced water usage and cost, on site energy production with the option to use it or sell it...also the addition of a crop with superior stability combined with hands free harvesting (The Sun). This is farming of the future!
Thanks for your videos. How about covering roads with PV panel structures? There are standard "barn" steel structural systems that can be used to support the panels over the roads. Issues such as shading and complex programs to move the panels would be eliminated because all we do is shade the road.
I see great potential in this technology for helping with all things listed in this video. I will bring up that these systems would be easily damaged from a tornado in the United States, and tornadoes are quite frequent in the Great plains where a lot of agriculture happens. California would be a good place for these systems as there's a lot less risk involved, and the crops that this system benefits is mostly grown in the state. Great overview of this system!
Combine this with hydroponics and/or aeroponics and we could see another agricultural revolution.
This is great stuff but it's also a bit funny how every company claims they're using "ai" now, I bet like 90% of these systems are just basic control loops :) still, if it gets them the funding, great
100%, and even this video says the term over and over. It’s the latest buzzword so give people what they want to hear.
Great content.
Thanks Matt
This agrivoltaics is the future & I look forward to the coming days.
AI, innovations & technology aiding food production & solving climate changes such a great synergy
in the Netherlands where I live, you see a lot of grassland along the highways that is used for solar panel parks.
a development in a small country like mine that doesn't really make many people happy.
I would be more comfortable with solar panels above certain crops. that everything has a price tag on it.
but to preserve the landscape a bit, they could also install solar panels over highways at height.
The additional advantage is that in winter there will not be so much snow on the road, so you don't have to sprinkle salt or less.
And you don't have to worry about it in the rain either.
In some parts you would therefore not have a bar from a low hanging sun.
Prevents accidents.
Not a win win solution.
But I think there would be many benefits to it.
Thanks for another great video.
Isn't it easier/cheaper to implement vertical solar panels instead of lifting them high over the crops and machinery?
You can adjust the hight to the amount of shade/sun you need, maybe also rotate them a little on the horizontal axe for some energy generation in mid day.
Anyone know of or have a link to what plants work best under the panels?
appreciating that your video footage fits your commentary.
The airport in the outskirts of my town, Cochin International Airport is the world's first airport to operate completely on solar power. They have total installed solar capacity of 50 MWp spread over 45 acres. This includes rooftop solar and the carports.They used to spend a lot of money weeding area between the solar panels . The Airport started agrovoltaics to solve the weed problem. As of December 2021 the have about 20 acres under Agrovoltaics farming. They mainly stick to short plants like ginger, turmeric, cabbages , cauliflower and long yard bean to prevent the need to raise the existing panels for agriculture. The water used to clean the solar panel also irrigates the crops. They have money leftover even after paying wages of workers maintaing both the panels and the farm. It also reduces the dust inside the airport during summer.
PS: Agrovoltaics need not be more expensive than normal solar farms. It was just an after thought in the above-mentioned example. The didnot modify the existing solar farm in any way to fit the crps. The panels are static. No solar tracking used. The most expensive equipment they use is a hand driven tiller. They crops were selected to need as little maintenance as possible. No need for AI and smart tech to complicate things unnecessarily. Why add another point of failure?
Agrivoltaics sound promising with significant potential (no pun intended). What companies specialize in the type of modular framing necessary for this type of project?
AI this, AI that. It's big data + machine learning, nothing more. Takes me right back to the days when people thought "the cloud" meant we had finally transcended hardware.
The way forward is decentralization along with a combination of many forms of energy production. There is no one solution.
3:24 - Magenta! Perfect! Use all of the green light for PV, then pass on the part of the spectrum the plants use! Plants of course look green because they reflect, rather than use, green light.
probably soon the automated systems in greenhouses could have cameras taking pictures and asking AI "what does this plant need" like once a hour and adjust the automation accordingly... then maybe some boston dynamics robot could work as mini gardener :D
Great topic and video. I'm a little sceptical on the AI example provided. The company behind may actually be using AI model but from the example it seems more like a serie of IF statements.
- We know the calculate the trajectory of the sun based on latitute, longitute and time. I'm pretty sure that some sensor also exist. No need for AI for sun tracking with AI
- We can connect to meteorological data service provider or implement sensor for hail storm
AI would be interesting in a more controled environnement (indoor farming) where you can adjust all the inputs (light by wavelength over time, water, temperature, humidity in the air, nutriment, ...) and measure individual outputs (foor growth, nutriment content in the plant, ...)
I love watching videos like this cuz they give me hope we humans might be able to dig ourselves out of the holes we’ve put ourselves into . Very exciting !!
I'm optimistic about the future of humanity. I think it's more likely that wars kill us rather than the environment lol
Yes, it's a good thing. Using an enclosed hydroponics farm of 6-10 stories with the blue LEDs and using fish farms with that is the way to go. For years, I haven't understood why solar panels gobble up so much space on ground level. Add to that some of the new wind mills that can close, but still work in hurricane and a huge, underground hydro-electric power station and many problems could be solved.
34 seconds? Damn. Before I even watch, I can tell this is yet another great video.
This really feels like an area that the Government should subsidies. Great video.
Thanks for this video ❤
Solar + grazing land has produced promising results to, some type of grass love partial shade and grow better.
Yet another amazingly informative video on things I NEVER KNEW I NEEDED
THATS RIGHT FOLKS
ITS
THAT Matt...
Much love from north of the wall Matt & Team (AND BROTHER *NOT THAT MATT*)
I tried very hard to promote solar and wind energy but was never taken seriously. It was the 1970s. My extended farming family was only interested in oil well royalties.
I would think that aspects of this could be perfect for desert reclamation projects. They could use the solar tech to create enough shape to enable plants to become established and then move panels to reclaim additional land.
Seeing farm fields covered in plain solar alone always felt like the wrong tool for the job, forced placement for a quick fix. This is a far better approach to land use. Research and production like this is greatly needed, for keeping the options open for each scenario, helping provide the best return for land use and value for related parties. Same with all your topics about battery storage/use, so many existing and up coming options, there is bound to be a better option for most applications outside Li-Ion for everything.
Even if you were unable to pass solar through the panel you could hang grow lights under the panels and run at night as well. Use the grid as storage or ideally find a place for lead acid batteries or other batteries.
This seems interesting from an efficiency standpoint, but I wonder how well it works practically? I would think almost everything has to be done by hand, you can't just have giant tractors, plows, combines, harvesters, etc running through those fields anymore. It might end up being more energy efficient, but not cost efficient since it requires so much more manual labor which would result in higher food prices.
Hi Matt, thanks for all your awesome videos. I have this question since always-
What it takes if we use solar power during the day and conventional power during night time. It would still be cutting down burning the fossil fuel. This can be an interim arrangement before we solve the energy storage problem.
Is the issue with managing the load of electricity for the power companies?
All conventional power plants (except peaker power plants used to handle peak loads/ power surges) have to keep running. They can't be started and stopped. That would increase the cost way too much. Battery, hydro storage or some other form of storage is the way to get power for the night.
Hi Matt, worth looking at ‘Ripple’ model in the UK for both the agri and co-operative sides of their approach.
I think that in a decade from now, this will be common and lucrative. The infrastructure will be in place, the regulations will be ironed out, the research will be done, the programs will be developed, etc. It's definitely going to be extremely useful in the future. It seems like it will be a bit more situational in the near future, however. There will be some early adopters who will bear the brunt of the initial costs, thankfully.