AFT Statement on USDA REAP Rulemaking
This statement can be attributed to Samantha Levy, Senior Policy Manager for Conservation and Energy.
Since its creation, REAP has supported farmers and rural small businesses in improving the viability of their operations by offering grants and loans to help them generate their own energy and increase energy efficiency. This popular, highly competitive program has positively impacted nearly 20,000 farms and rural businesses, enabling cost-saving projects in rural communities that would otherwise not have happened.
American Farmland Trust has worked tirelessly to keep productive land in agriculture for over four decades and shares in USDA’s goal of reducing farmland conversion. While large utility-scale solar has posed a threat to farmland in the past, REAP does not contribute to farmland loss in any appreciable way. In fact, as a farm and ranch viability program, it does just the opposite.
AFT is concerned that the newly proposed Final Rule published October 1st that is set to go into effect before the comment period ends could have a chilling effect on solar that benefits farms and ranches, including projects that generate energy primarily for the farm, and agrivoltaic projects that keep productive land in agriculture. We are also concerned that the new rule, which limits REAP support to projects already in operation for at least a year, could largely reduce participation to applicants that do not need federal support to succeed.
This shared goal of protecting our best farmland would be better achieved by 1) keeping the types of REAP projects farmers or ranchers can apply for broad and inclusive of solar; 2) incentivizing agrivoltaic projects that integrate farming with solar arrays; 3) guiding solar toward less productive land; and 4) restoring REAP to a program that provides up-front financial support rather than one that only reimburses projects already completed.
Additional Information
From working with farmers in the field and through farmer surveys, AFT has learned that solar arrays sited on farmland can be a lifeline for businesses by providing reliable, diversified revenue streams and reducing energy cost risks. Out of this work with producers, AFT developed four Smart Solar principles designed to maximize the benefits of solar to farmers and rural communities and to minimize the adverse impacts:
Prioritizing solar development on the built environment, contaminated land, and marginal farmland
Safeguarding the ability to farmland put into solar by preserving soil productivity and water access
Advancing agrivoltaics: a win-win strategy that intentionally keeps land utilized for solar in active agricultural production
Advancing farm viability and equity
For more information on AFT’s Smart Solar work, please go to: https://farmland.org/smart-solar
