Page 32 - AT

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 31 OcTOber 2019
Cranberry farmers want to build solar panels over their bogs

By PHILIP MARCELO meters) off the ground. The
Associated Press projects also must provide
CARVER, Mass. (AP) — an annual report demon-
Plummeting cranberry strating the land under the
prices and the country's panels remains agricultur-
ongoing trade wars have ally productive.
America's cranberry indus- One proposal has already
try eyeing a possible new received state approv-
savior: solar power. al; four others, including
Some cranberry farmers in Wainio's, are under review;
Massachusetts, the nation's and more are pending be-
second largest grower after fore local authorities or are
Wisconsin, are proposing to in earlier stages of develop-
build solar panels above ment, say state and cran-
the bogs they harvest each berry industry officials.
fall. Dual use projects have
It's a novel approach to proven successful on live-
blending renewable en- stock farms in Europe and
ergy technology with tra- the U.S., and hundreds of
ditional farming that's projects have been built
been researched across on crop farms in Japan —
the world but hasn't been though all those are vastly
tried before on large scale, smaller than what's being
commercial crop cultiva- In this Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019, photo, cranberry grower Dick Ward, of Carver, Mass., stands near proposed on Massachu-
tion, according to solar a solar array in a cranberry bog on his farm, in Carver. setts cranberry bogs, said
power and agricultural in- Associated Press Jordan Macknick, an ana-
dustry experts. The basic lyst at the federal National
idea is to build solar arrays would produce about 10 pounds) in 2008 to $25 in new solar projects is that Renewable Energy Labo-
high enough off the ground megawatts of energy, or 2018, according to U.S. they have a farm-first men- ratory in Colorado who is
and in more spaced-out roughly enough to power Department of Agriculture tality," he said. "This is an coordinating a nationwide
clusters to allow for crops to more than 1,600 homes, data . But Wick says the opportunity to keep the in- study on "agrivoltaics," as
be safely grown and har- according to NextSun. cost to produce the tart dustry going. This isn't about the idea is also sometimes
vested underneath. The cranberry industry has red berries in Massachu- replacing farms with solar." referred.
Cranberry farmers hope to been dealing for years setts is nearly $35 a barrel. In Massachusetts, cranber- He said the impact on crop
shoulder lean times for their with the combined ef- The USDA permitted industry ry growers and their solar cultivation in different en-
industry by gleaning extra fects of crop surplus and to dump millions of pounds partners are hoping to take vironments is still being re-
revenue — in the form of weakening demand for of fruit in 2017 and 2018 in advantage of a unique searched.
long-term land leases with one of its primary products, order to stabilize prices, new renewable energy in- In a study published in Sep-
solar developers — while cranberry juice, said Brian but the country's ongoing centive meant to encour- tember in the academic
still producing the same Wick, executive director of trade disputes with Europe age such "dual use" solar journal Nature Sustainabil-
quality berries they have for the Cape Cod Cranberry and China are further com- and agriculture projects, as ity, researchers at the Uni-
generations. An ongoing, Growers' Association. pounding the struggles for the state refers to them. versity of Arizona found that
nationwide study also sug- The price of cranberries has an industry that previously To qualify, arrays must cherry tomatoes grown
gests certain crops in par- plummeted 57% over the exported about 30% of its meet certain design re- under solar panels in the
ticular climates can thrive last decade, from roughly product, Wick said. quirements , such as being hot desert landscape pro-
under solar panels, though $58 a barrel (about 100 "What we like about these built at least eight feet (2.4 duced higher yields and
it's unclear at this point how required less water.
cranberries will fare. But ongoing trials at a re-
Michael Wainio, a fourth- lated site run by the Univer-
generation cranberry farm- sity of Massachusetts have
er, said he's sold off parts so far found that broccoli,
of his land, started a side kale and peppers are less
business harvesting bogs productive growing under
for other growers, and solar panels in the more
launched a farm stand, temperate New England
deli and bakery operation climate.
in recent years to make Other University of Massa-
ends meet. chusetts researchers are
"We're doing everything also beginning to assess the
we can to diversify, and potential impact on cran-
it's not enough," he said. berries . They erected large
"If we don't get this, I'd be wooden structures meant
surprised if we made it five to mimic the shading of a
years." solar panel array on one of
Wainio is working with de- Wainio's bogs this summer.
veloper NextSun Energy on On a recent visit, countless
a project calling for roughly berries could be seen grow-
27,000 solar panels over ing under the structures,
about 60 acres (24 hect- but researchers said they'll
ares) of active bogs across In this Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019, photo, cranberries grow in a cranberry bog near solar arrays, need to assess their qual-
three farms in Carver, near behind, in Carvar, Mass. ity and yield when they're
Cape Cod. The project Associated Press harvested.q