Visitors to Roundabout Meadows farm in rural Virginia are greeted by rows of tomatoes, squash, peppers, eggplants and leafy greens. But not long ago, this land faced a very different future.

As northern Virginia’s Loudoun County expanded, the property was slated for housing and retail development. Instead, the Piedmont Environmental Council (PEC), a local organization, stepped in to protect the landscape, preserving 172 acres and creating Roundabout Meadows, now home to an 8-acre community farm. The decision was celebrated by nearby residents, conservation advocates, and visitors who value northern Virginia’s rural character.

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Although Roundabout Meadows itself is relatively new, it is rooted in a region shaped by generations of farming, livestock grazing, viticulture and wildlife stewardship. Four staff members and hundreds of volunteers cultivate healthy soils and grow vegetables using sustainable practices. Almost everything harvested is donated to local food pantries and hunger relief organizations, amounting to nearly 240,000 pounds of fresh produce since 2019. 

Roundabout Meadows is doing something else impressive as well: generating clean, affordable power through an emerging practice known as “agrivoltaics.”

Solar panels on a farm in rural Virginia
Roundabout Meadows in rural Virginia installed on-farm solar panels on its crop fields. The panels and a battery provide enough energy to fully meet the farm's electricity needs. Photo by Hugh Kenny/Piedmont Environmental Council

Driven by the belief that farmers and communities should not have to choose between producing food and generating clean energy, the community farm at Roundabout Meadows became Virginia’s first crop-producing “agrivoltaics” site in 2025. With technical assistance from the National Laboratory of the Rockies’ Clean Energy to Communities program, the farm installed a 17-kilowatt solar array consisting of 42 panels, paired with 23 kilowatts of battery storage. The system generates enough power to meet the farm’s annual needs, with some capacity to spare.

Eighteen different crops now grow between the rows of solar panels, allowing the farm to continue producing food while advancing research on agrivoltaics. Teddy Pitsiokos, Roundabout Meadows’ farm manager, is monitoring crop performance to identify which varieties thrive under solar panels, while scientists from Virginia Tech conduct annual soil testing to ensure the land remains healthy and free of contaminants. This research is helping to build trust among the community and demonstrate that integrating solar on cropland can advance clean energy goals without compromising agricultural productivity.

While the community farm at Roundabout Meadows does not add capacity to the electric grid, it demonstrates how solar panels can coexist with working farmland— and, in some cases, even improve growing conditions. In doing so, the project offers a practical solution to one of the most contentious debates facing rural communities: How can we expand clean energy while preserving agricultural land and local character? 

Those concerns have become increasingly pronounced. As efforts to halt renewable energy development spread across the United States, debates over land use, the industrialization of open space, and who benefits from clean energy development have intensified. For many residents, skepticism is not simply about the technology itself, but about how and where it is deployed, as well as who benefits. –These conversations are especially important as rapid data center growth increases attention on electricity demand, land use and utility bills.

Solar panels at Roundabout Meadows Community Farm in rural Virginia
Crops grow in raised beds beneath a 17-kilowatt solar array. Photo by Hugh Kenny/Piedmont Environmental Council

Agrivoltaics: Combining Solar Power with Food Production

Agrivoltaics involves incorporating solar panels onto agricultural land, enabling the simultaneous production of energy alongside crops or livestock. Solar panels can be located in livestock grazing areas, placed between rows of crops, or installed alongside pollinator habitats to generate clean energy. This electricity can be sent to the grid, charge batteries, or power farming operations, including irrigation systems, agricultural equipment or barns. 

Sheep grazing is currently the most common and commercially mature application of agrivoltaics, as it allows land to remain in use while also reducing vegetation management costs for landowners. American Farmland Trust (AFT) has many great examples of how this practice is not only becoming more common, but helping farmers and ranchers expand their operations.  Texas Solar Sheep is one such example.

Integrating specialty or row crops with solar, however, is less common. Protecting topsoil and maintaining crop health beneath solar panels can be technically complex and require careful engineering.

Beyond the community farm at Roundabout Meadows, several larger examples are emerging in other states. In Colorado, Jack's Solar Garden produces 1.2 megawatts (MW) of clean energy and acts primarily as a research site, serving as a model for governments, solar developers and farmers. These crop-producing agrivoltaics projects have a unique opportunity to inform decisions and policymaking nationally while demonstrating what‘s possible for communities and farmers.

The Role of Policy, Markets and Farmer-First Agrivoltaics

Virginia is among a growing number of U.S. states working to advance “farmer-first” agrivoltaics, ensuring that clean energy primarily benefits farmers. Ten states having already enacted relevant policies and definitions, and 11 others are considering similar legislation.

In 2026, Virginia became one of the first states to establish a statutory definition of agrivoltaics. The legislation defines agrivoltaics as the intentional co-location of agricultural production and solar energy generation on the same land, with the goal of prioritizing and sustaining agricultural production. The definition helps distinguish agrivoltaics from conventional ground-mounted solar by emphasizing that agricultural production remains an active and sustained component of the project rather than being secondary or incidental.

The adoption of this farmer-first definition is happening at an important time. Farmers throughout the U.S. face mounting economic pressure as operational costs rise and crop prices decrease. Meanwhile, energy demand is growing throughout the U.S., most notably for new data centers. Rising electricity prices are one side effect of energy demand spikes, but there’s also the question of where new power systems can be built. Farmland is often the first to be slated for housing, energy infrastructure and other development projects. The AFT estimates that between 2001 and 2016, 11 million acres of farmland across the U.S. were converted to other uses. 

 “Fifty years ago, Loudoun County was all farms,” said Bill Hatch, a Virginia farmer and winemaker. “Now it’s mostly residential neighborhoods. They want to keep what remains as farmland so they can enjoy how beautiful it all is. We can’t keep it farmland though, if it's not viable for us.” 

That’s where agrivoltaics can play a helpful role. Producing clean energy on farms can preserve much-needed agricultural land for food production. The AFT recently launched its Thriving Farms and Ranches Initiative to complement its Smart Solar program, both of which aim to safeguard farmland and strengthen farm viability by accelerating solar energy development.

“Nobody is more exposed to rising energy costs right now than farmers, especially those with smaller, family-owned farms or those in the poultry and dairy industry,” said Ethan Winter, director of AFT’s National Smart Solar program. 

At Roundabout Meadows, for example, solar provides 130% of the farm’s electricity — more than enough to fully cover the farm’s energy needs. In some situations, agrivoltaics allows farmers to actually make money from their clean energy production.

Depending on a state’s electricity regulatory structure, farmers can use solar generated on-site to reduce their monthly utility bills, sell the energy generated back to the grid, or do both through net-metering. Participating in Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), or programs that aggregate distributed energy resources like solar panels to reduce demand on the grid during times of peak use, could unlock additional revenue streams for farmers if they have battery storage systems installed alongside solar. There are several VPP programs emerging nationwide, including a few pilot programs in Virginia and a program through Green Mountain Power in Vermont. In this program, participants earn rebates of up to $10,500 for discharging power from a battery to the grid. The best part is farmers can largely participate without changing anything about their farming practices.

“We must change as little as possible for farmers to adopt this,” said Pitsiokos. “Don’t tell them to grow a different crop or buy new machinery … it has to be farmer forward in order for it to be truly agrivoltaics.”

Agrivoltaics Can Help Farmers, Communities and the Grid

Compensation and revenue diversification, while a key draw for farmers, are far from the only advantages of agrivoltaics. Potential benefits extend to the broader community, local workforce and even the grid, including:

Diversifying local economies and protecting farmland: Rural communities that rely heavily on a single agricultural commodity or production system can be vulnerable to market fluctuations and economic shocks. According to a 2023 U.S. Department of Agriculture study, 84% of farmers earn income from off-farm employment to supplement farm revenues. Agrivoltaics can diversify farm income by creating an additional revenue stream from solar energy while keeping land in agricultural production, strengthening both farm viability and the broader local economy. By improving the financial viability of working farms, agrivoltaics can also help reduce development pressure on agricultural land and support the long-term preservation of local food production.

Expanding clean energy: Agrivoltaics demonstrates that solar energy and agriculture can coexist on the same land, helping shift the conversation from choosing between food production and clean energy to advancing both simultaneously. By enabling solar development on active farmland without displacing agricultural production, agrivoltaics can reduce land-use conflicts, expand the amount of land available for renewable energy development, and contribute additional clean electricity to the grid. When paired with battery storage, these systems can also improve on-farm energy resilience by reducing the impacts of power outages.

Increasing energy resilience and reducing operating costs: Depending on state policy and utility regulations, agrivoltaics systems can offset on-site electricity consumption, export excess generation to the grid, or both. By generating electricity on-site, farms can lower energy costs, reduce exposure to volatile utility prices, and improve energy independence. These systems can also support the electrification of farm equipment and operations, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and potentially decreasing air pollution.

Improving agricultural productivity, soil health and climate resilience: Although additional research is needed, some evidence indicates that agrivoltaics can when implemented alongside practices such as . This is particularly important for areas susceptible to extreme heat or facing drought conditions, where shading plants and preserving water can support crop growth. Solar panels also create cooler, shaded working conditions that protect farmers’ safety and comfort.

Supporting workforce development and local expertise: Designing, installing and operating these systems requires collaboration among farmers, engineers, installers, developers and agricultural specialists. Prioritizing local developers, businesses, nonprofits and educational institutions helps build regional expertise, strengthen local supply chains and provide workforce training that supports future agrivoltaics and other renewable energy projects. 

Building awareness through demonstration projects: Agrivoltaics demonstration sites serve as valuable educational resources for farmers, researchers, students, developers, policymakers and community members. Through workshops, field days, internships and farm tours, early adopters can share lessons learned, demonstrate successful practices and increase public understanding of dual-use solar. For example, PEC hosts visitors at Roundabout Meadows to learn about agrivoltaics, tour their farm and even assist in planting. As more projects are developed and evaluated, best practices become better understood, reducing uncertainty and making future projects easier and more cost-effective to implement.

Advancing agrivoltaics research and innovation: Because agrivoltaics is an emerging field, researchers continue to evaluate how solar panel design, spacing and shading influence agricultural production across different crops, soils and climates. Partnerships among farmers, universities and research institutions enable demonstration projects to generate valuable data that advances scientific understanding, informs project design and supports the responsible scaling of agrivoltaics across diverse regions.

Building a Path Forward: Lessons Learned

Despite growing interest in agrivoltaics, there are still several barriers to getting projects off the ground. Farms may face hurdles with interconnection and working with the electric utility, high up-front costs, lack of information about the opportunity, and contractor and workforce constraints.

Finding a trusted and reputable contractor is critical. Roundabout Meadows selected Charlottesville-based solar firm TigerSolar to design and install its system. Beyond construction, the company also helped the farm navigate operational and logistical challenges, including coordinating with the local electric utility and zoning departments. At one point, leadership at Roundabout Meadows was told it would need a $10,000 transformer upgrade that threatened to significantly increase project costs. However, after re-evaluating the interconnection requirements, TigerSolar determined that the upgrade and associated costs were unnecessary, saving the farm from a substantial expense.

Some states are taking action to address barriers by passing supportive legislation and offering incentives such as subsidies or tax breaks. Reacting to the passage of Virginia’s 2026 agrivoltaics legislation (HB 508/SB 340), Ashish Kapoor, senior energy and climate advisor at PEC, highlighted the importance of establishing a formal definition for the technology: “This was a huge win for us. Now the state can start drafting more favorable policies, farmer protections and even incentives for these projects.” The new law represents an important step toward creating a clearer policy framework to support the development of agrivoltaic projects in Virginia.

As more states move to support agrivoltaics, the opportunity now is to scale the impact. Clear definitions and incentives can help unlock investment, streamline interconnection and give farmers the ability to pursue these projects. But their success will ultimately depend on how well they translate the benefits and opportunities to local communities. 

While it’s important to note that the community farm at Roundabout Meadows, as well as similar projects, are not yet operating at utility scale, agrivoltaics represents an important piece of the broader puzzle for expanding clean energy. The field is still young. Continued innovation and growth will depend on building practical experience, sharing lessons and best practices, and demonstrating successful models that can build momentum for the future.

Projects like Roundabout Meadows offer an early blueprint for what that can look like: farmer-centered and community-informed. If that model can be scaled thoughtfully, agrivoltaics has the potential to make U.S. farms a vital partner in the clean energy transition.

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