Two Minnesota solar farms seeded native wildflowers under their panels, and 5 years of counting revealed native bees had multiplied twentyfold, then crossed the fence to pollinate the neighbour's soybeans
www.ecoportal.net
Two Minnesota solar farms planted 66 native species under their panels. Five years of counting revealed a staggering result that nobody had written into the engineering plan.

then crossed the fence to pollinate the neighbour’s soybeans

  • jagermo@feddit.org
    22·
    11 days ago

    Solar farms are awesome. Even if you don’t plant anything below, they help regenerate the soil and can be built back without a trace. You don’t need to add cement to the foundation,they can simply be set up with anchors. Fantastic option for farmers.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
      13·
      11 days ago

      They’re a no brainer if you have land. Even farmers who don’t want to cover their crops, I see solar panels fitting perfectly over drainage ditches/ creeks / edges of their land. Areas they can’t farm, but could generate a ton of free electricity not just for themselves but also sell back. Then also over water means less evaporation, lower water bills for them.

        • TehPers@beehaw.orgEnglish
          4·
          10 days ago

          If you cover the parking lot, then how am I supposed to enjoy my 140°F car after letting it sit in the sun for 8 hours at work? We can’t have that.

          I’ve seen people put solar on carports, so the idea does seem to be picking up traction at least.

        • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
          2·
          8 days ago

          frankly at this point i wouldn’t be surprised if part of it is literally that it would make people think “oh, things can be better, maybe we should make more things better”.