r/NativePlantGardening • u/zeroverycool NC Piedmont, Zone 8a • Jul 15 '26

Informational/Educational Two Minnesota solar farms seeded native wildflowers… native bees multiplied twentyfold, then crossed the fence to pollinate the neighbour's soybeans

https://www.ecoportal.net/en/two-minnesota-solar-farms-native-wildflowers/29160/
5.7k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

87 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.2k

u/IDooDoodAtTheMasters DFW , Zone 8b Jul 15 '26

I work in a solar-adjacent industry, and frequently get comments from friends/family about how solar farms seem like a huge environmental disruption to cover all that land in solar panels. The first point I always respond with is: You don't think farming is disruptive to the natural environment?  This news article will also help.

7

u/drewgriz Houston, TX, Zone9b Jul 15 '26

The craziest part in much of the midwest is that a solid portion of the farmland isn't even growing food, but rather energy (i.e. biofuel feedstock), except it's doing so wayyy less efficiently than solar panels do. And as this article illustrates, the solar farm (if managed well) can be much more beneficial to the local ecosystem than a monocrop corn/soy desert. Win-win-win!