Farmland or Solar Power? Why the Real Question Isn’t What You Think

Golf courses or solar farms?

That’s the kind of question that often pops up in debates about land use and renewable energy. But the real tension isn’t between golf and green energy. It’s between farmland and solar power , and the reasons behind that shift might surprise you.

In my work in the solar photovoltaic (PV) sector, I’ve seen this story play out countless times. Agricultural land becomes a solar farm. Not because the soil was barren. Not because of generous subsidies. But because of something far more human: there was no one left to farm it.