Solar Doesn’t Use Much Farmland — Until You Define What ‘Much’ Really Means

(Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

I have to admit that I laughed out loud – almost spewing coffee on my keyboard – Friday morning when I read this headline from a competing platform’s energy-related newsletter: “SOLAR DOESN’T USE MUCH FARMLAND: Solar occupies less than 1% of farmland in the U.S., according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.”

To paraphrase from former President Bill Clinton’s grand jury testimony, that depends on what the meaning of “much” is. Curious about the subject, I decided to research the question, accessing a wealth of public information easily available to anyone, including those in the solar industry. The answer I found might surprise the folks at the Solar Energy Industries Association. Or maybe it wouldn’t, which might explain why they choose to couch the answer in such a misleading way. (RELATED: Oil Plummets To Three-Month Low After US-Iran Interim Peace Deal)

The salient question: How many acres make up 1% of U.S. farmlands?

The easily discovered answer: Approximately 8.74 million acres (using the latest 2025 figure of ~874 million acres total), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Fertilizer is........

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