Immigrant farmers, solar company pioneer new methods at Big Lake farm

Stephen Nyairo is nearly ready to harvest his Swiss chard.

The neat rows of leafy greens with red and rainbow colored stalks took a bit longer to grow than usual, he said. But some variance is to be expected this year. Stephen and his twin brother, Simon Nyairo, are growing food between solar arrays in Big Lake, pioneering a partnership between solar and farming known as agrivoltaics.

The Nyairo brothers farm 21-foot wide strips of land in a community solar garden developed and run by U.S. Solar, a Minneapolis firm. The company partnered with The Food Group, a nonprofit that runs Big River Farms in Marine on St. Croix, where emerging farmers from around the world like Nyairo grow organic produce.

The partnership between The Food Group and U.S. Solar is among the first of its kind in Minnesota, and part of a growing trend across the country. Partnering farmers with solar arrays can help use land to its fullest potential, and provide stability to emerging farmers by offering long-term, affordable leases.

The farming has gone well this year for Stephen Nyairo. Between the frequent rains and the new soil, plants have been growing slowly, which isn’t entirely bad.

“It’s better for the organic stuff. You don’t want it to grow too fast,” Nyairo said.

Increasing access

The Nyairo brothers were raised on a farm in Kenya. Stephen immigrated to Minnesota 21 years ago, and said he always wanted to farm. He worked in health care across Minnesota and the Dakotas, but kept his farm dreams alive.

He has leased land in Medina and Lino Lakes, where he still keeps a plot. But buying land is challenging for immigrant farmers like him. He’s enjoyed working between the solar arrays this summer. More importantly, he can come back to work the land next year.

“The first time things might not grow as fast, but when you come back, the land is more fertile,” Stephen said.

Land access is a huge barrier for emerging farmers. Many Minnesota farms have been in the same family for generations. White Minnesotans own 65,324 of the state’s 65,531 farms, according to the 2022 U.S. Department of Agriculture Census.

For people not born into those families, or those who immigrated to the United States, buying farmland is usually out of reach and doesn’t always make economic sense, according to Sophia Lenarz-Coy, executive director of The Food Group.

But leasing land comes with plenty of risks, and the uncertainty of not knowing whether farmers can return to the same land in following years. Investing time to build up soil health may not pay off for farmers who lease.

“A year-to-year lease is simply not a good option,” Lenarz-Coy said.

Solar gardens are typically active for 25 years. Agrivoltaics is attractive to solar companies because it ensures the land around panels are managed, and it can help bridge divides in farming communities, where people are sometimes hesitant to give up agricultural land, according to U.S. Solar Director of Development Peter Schmitt.

The Food Group farmers are paying just $1 a year to lease farmland. U.S. Solar didn’t charge them, Schmitt said, but some kind of payment was required in order to establish leases.

KaZoua Berry, farm director for The Food Group, said the argrivoltaics project looks promising this year. The group had an abridged trial run at the site in 2023, and thought it was worth pursuing long term.

“We obviously have to be creative about land access,” Berry said.

Co-benefits

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab and the University of Minnesota are all paying attention.

“I believe this should be the future of photovoltaics, because if you can use the land in multiple ways, you should do it,” said Uwe Kortshagen, professor of mechanical engineering at the university.

Agriculture could potentially provide benefits to solar production. In theory, evaporation off plants could help cool the solar arrays, thereby increasing solar cell efficiency, said Kortshagen, who came to the university from Germany 28 years ago. That theory needs to be backed up with scientific evidence, he said.

The first agrivoltaics projects emerged about 10 years ago, Kortshagen said. Now, there are roughly 700 nationwide. But most of those involve pairing solar with pollinator friendly plants or grazing livestock, not produce farms. There are only about 35 farming agrivoltaic efforts in the country.

For farmers, the solar panels provide their own benefits. The array in Big Lake rotates throughout the day to maximize sunlight, which gives varying amounts of shade throughout the day. That’s good for some plants like cilantro. The farmers at the array harvested 60 bunches of prime cilantro in early August, Berry said. But cilantro planted in a fully exposed bed adjacent to the solar panels wilted in the sun.

The Nyairo brothers grow some African crops between the panels. They have two leafy greens in the ground that are common in soups and side dishes. Those plants are doing well, as are the rows of radishes Stephen hopes to harvest soon.

“It would be great for the other solar systems to do what we’re doing here in Big Lake,” he said.

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