What if the secret to a successful farm has been staring at you each morning?
Thanks to solar power, the sun is a great source of power for your farm. Unfortunately, many fans don’t know about the possibilities of solar.
Curious what the sun can do for you and your farm? Keep reading to discover the surprising ways solar power can help any farm grow and thrive.
1. Saving Money
In some ways, farming is like a special calling. In other ways, though, it’s a bit like any other business. This is especially true when it comes to your bottom line.
At first, you might think of solar power as just another expense for your farm. What makes it worth taking on this financial burden? Because it will ultimately save you money in multiple ways.
Some of these benefits come around during tax time. There are special government incentive programs such as a federal investment tax credit to help pay for the costs of solar power installation. And because installation costs depreciate from taxable income after a year, solar power has the potential to save you thousands of dollars each year.0
If you need additional financial help to install solar power, there are multiple grants you can pursue. And solar panel retailers also offer special financing programs to make solar power more accessible and affordable than ever before.
2. Protecting Nature
Part of being a good farmer is being a good steward of nature. And you might be surprised at just how much solar power helps you protect nature, both around your farm and well beyond its borders.
For instance, switching to solar power helps reduce the pollution that originates from your farm. This lets you go about your business without worrying about the negative impact you may be having on the air and the water around you.
You can also use solar technology to help out specific groups such as honey bees. By growing local plants beneath your solar panels, you can create a space to help pollinators such as honey bees to thrive.
The end result is a growing pollinator population that will seriously improve your crop yield each year. And that’s what we call a “win/win” idea!
3. Efficient Use of Water
Earlier, we talked about how growing local planets beneath your solar panels was good for the pollinators. But would you believe growing those plants also improves your water efficiency around the farm?
As any good farmer knows, plants in the shade require less water than plants constantly exposed to sunlight. This natural water retention helps these shaded plants survive without much effort on your part.
By growing plants beneath solar panels, you’re growing plants that easily retain water and require little effort on your part. And this added water efficiency helps make your whole farm that much more efficient with your resources.
4. Renewable Energy
We previously talked about how solar energy is your key to saving money via taxes. Fortunately, you don’t have to wait until tax time to start enjoying major savings. And that’s because solar power is your key to accessing more renewable energy.
Just about everything on a farm requires energy to operate. This ranges from complex machinery to assorted lights and electric fences.
With solar power, you can provide an alternative energy source to most of these things. And by using renewable solar energy for as much as possible, you can reduce your energy bill from month to month.
By increasing your self-reliance and freeing yourself from the annoyances of energy bills that fluctuate each month, you can take control of your farm in a very real way.
5. Energy Credits
How, exactly, does solar power help you save money on your energy bill? The key to understanding this lies with understanding how net metering credits work.
With the right solar panel setup, you will often generate more energy than you actually need. And you can translate that excess energy into savings in one of two ways.
In some places, you can actually sell excess energy to the state and make money directly. In most places, though, you can use solar energy as a “credit” against future bills.
Either way, the end result is that solar power has saved your farm money!
6. Crop Management
One of the things we love about solar power is that is basically “scales” to the size of your needs. For example, solar power is beneficial to even the tiniest home or farm. But it can also completely transform how large farms go about their business.
The best example of this comes from drying crops. Past a certain point, a farm is too large to simply use direct sunlight to dry crops. But the sun can still help you get the job done thanks to solar power.
By using solar-powered equipment to dry crops, you can make the entire process faster and more efficient. And you’ll do all of this while still saving money each month.
7. Beating the Competition
Every business has competition. And that includes every commercial farm that has to worry about any “up and coming” competitors.
Fortunately, solar power helps you get the drop on your competitors in multiple ways. For instance, reducing your energy costs and reducing your bills will help you get a financial edge over your business rivals. In this way, solar panels can help lower production costs and effectively boost the profit for everything you sell.
Finally, embracing solar power gives you a chance to improve your marketing. You can brand your farm as a business that cares about the environment and the future of your community. This goes a long way towards winning over consumers who care deeply about the ethics of local businesses.
Solar Power and Your Farm: What’s Next?
Now you know what solar power can do for your farm. But do you know who can help with all your solar power needs?
We specialize in solar power for residential, commercial, and agricultural spaces. To see what we can do for your farm, contact us today!
