Location: Cotton Ginning Research
Project Number: 3050-41000-012-002-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Mar 1, 2026
End Date: Feb 28, 2028
Objective:
Investigate the influence of agrivoltaics on crop production and abiotic factors.
Approach:
The agreement will implement agrivoltaics research to inform and improve future agrivoltaic development in the southwestern U.S. to preserve productive farm and ranch land and improve farm and rural community resilience. Agrivoltaics offers dual benefits: producing additional producer income while maintaining crop yields and livestock productivity. USDA-ARS research aims to deliver practical, science-based solutions that meet the needs of farmers, ranchers, solar energy developers, and rural communities. Under this agreement, New Mexico State University and ARS scientific personnel will investigate and quantify agrivoltaic array impacts on environmental conditions (e.g., light, temperature, soil moisture) and on growth and yield of diverse agronomic crops (e.g., cotton, alfalfa) and on livestock health and grassland productivity under permanent and simulated agrivoltaic arrays. Studies will focus on understanding the impacts, benefits, and risks of collocating solar panels and agricultural production on such factors as crop yield and quality, livestock stress, soil health, water usage, pests, and diseases. The permanent agrivoltaics infrastructure is designed to allow quantification of solar array impacts on the spatial and temporal patterns in environmental conditions (e.g., light, temperature, soil moisture) and how this impacts crop and livestock production. The simulated arrays will be designed to be low-cost and easily set up and taken down as needed, taking the array to the crop to expedite opportunities to investigate and quantify agrivoltaic array impacts on production and environmental conditions (e.g., light, temperature, soil moisture). The infrastructure will include instrumentation to measure and optimize physiological conditions for agricultural production co-located with solar panels. Studies using this infrastructure will also be designed to understand potential benefits of solar panels for beneficial insects/pollinator populations, pest and disease management, soil cover and associated soil health, and dust emissions.