KSHB 41 anchor/reporter JuYeon Kim covers agricultural issues and the fentanyl crisis. Share your story idea with JuYeon.
—
The owner of Prairie Birthday Farm in Kearney, Missouri, is experimenting with agrivoltaics. She is using the help of solar panels to test growing some of her crops that have struggled with extreme heat in recent years.
“I’m losing plants that I used to grow just fine. Can’t grow them anymore — it’s too hot for them now,” Linda Hezel said. “I couldn’t keep them watered enough.”
The solar panels provide shade for what is growing underneath, guard the soil from heavy, intermittent rain, and also protect her from working long hours under the sun. But spaced ten inches apart, it does let beneficial rain in while still keeping necessary moisture.
The 9.7-kilowatt solar arrays are Hezel and her husband’s latest research project. They wrote a grant application in 2019 to help build it, which was then constructed by Good Energy Solutions in Lawrence, Kansas.
“We were willing to invest in it for our own energy production as well as a demonstration project to share with other people,” Hezel said. “This is totally experimental. I’m still playing with what’s possible — examining, observing.”
The couple bought and started Prairie Birthday Farm in 1993 with the mission to restore the land and its native species. Nurse by trade, Hezel saw that the land was hurting after years of row cropping and soil erosion.
“I believe it’s the most fundamental nursing practice, because none of us can be well without nutrient-dense, contaminated food. That’s how we survive,” Hezel said.
Year-round, they produce sustainably grown fruits, vegetables, herbs and more, which they share with the community and sell to local chefs.
“This is really about land stewardship and ecosystem repair,” Hezel said. “Step by step, we’ve restored what can possibly be.”
To learn about possible limitations of agrivoltaics, KSHB 41 talked to Rusty Lee, an Ag engineer with MU Extension.
“We’ve got county-by-county specific zoning ordinances, perhaps to work with. Each developer has a different company's mission and set of rules that they have to abide by for safety, etc. So it can be quite varied, the constraints that an agriculture producer may find,” Lee said.
He says the initial expense and lack of space for heavy machinery to do its work can also be barriers. Despite room to grow, Lee believes it can be an effective tool for small-scale farmers like Hezel and Moore.
“I may decide it was the wrong decision. But I won't know unless I try,” Hezel said.
—
