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How Agrisolar Helped the Cows Come Home to One Northeast Farm

For more than 150 years, Knowlton Family Farms in Grafton, Massachusetts, has been a family-owned operation. It has grown and shrunk over the years, and now it is back in a period of expansion thanks to combining solar-energy production with agriculture.

This video, produced for the National Center for Appropriate Technology’s AgriSolar Clearinghouse, tells the story of how the Knowlton family has been able to reintroduce cattle to their farm for the first time since they sold the last of their dairy cows in 1995. Now cattle graze among the solar panels.

 

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AgriSolar Podcast Ep. 4: Birds, Bees, and Butterflies – Solar Pollinator Habitat

Wondering how solar energy arrays can benefit pollinator health and habitat? Find out in this interesting podcast from our archives!

This episode features a conversation between Stacie Peterson, NCAT’s Energy Program Director and Manager of the AgriSolar Clearinghouse, and Pete Berthelsen, Executive Director of The Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund and President of Conservation Blueprint. 

It is the fourth in a series of AgriSolar Clearinghouse podcasts that are being featured on ATTRA’S Voices from the Field podcast.  

Pete and Stacie discuss the benefits of pollinator habitat at solar energy sites, pollinator habitat design, seed mixes, pollinator health and quality, and what anyone can do to help pollinators in their own backyard. 

AgriSolar Clearinghouse Resources: 

Other Resources: 

Contact Stacie Peterson at stacieb@ncat.org.   

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.   

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.   

Learn about NCAT’s other innovative sustainable agriculture programs.   

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE000937. Legal Disclaimer: The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government.  

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AgriSolar Podcast Ep. 3: Lexie Hain — Sheep and Solar a Match

This episode features a conversation between Stacie Peterson, NCAT’s Energy Program Director and Manager of the AgriSolar Clearinghouse, and Lexie Hain, the country’s leading solar grazing expert.  

It is the third in a series of AgriSolar Clearinghouse podcasts that are being featured on ATTRA’S Voices from the Field podcast. 

Lexie is a farmer, solar grazer, and the Director of Agrivoltaics at Lightsource BP.  She co-founded the American Solar Grazing Association and is a stakeholder in the AgriSolar Clearinghouse. She also coined the term solar grazing.  

Lexie and Stacie discuss the practicalities of solar grazing, how to prepare and manage agrivoltaic sites, opportunities for grazers and solar developers, and how sheep and solar are made for each other.

 

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Solar Energy Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE000937. Legal Disclaimer: The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Department of Energy or the United States Government. 

Related NCAT Resources: 

Other Resources: 

Contact Stacie Peterson at stacieb@ncat.org.  

Please complete a brief survey to let us know your thoughts about the content of this podcast.  

You can get in touch with NCAT/ATTRA specialists and find access to our trusted, practical sustainable-agriculture publications, webinars, videos, and other resources at ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.  

Learn about NCAT’s other innovative sustainable agriculture programs.