Rebekah Pierce is helping reshape how people think about farmland — not just as a place to grow food, but as a powerful source of clean energy.
A farmer, author, and advocate for what she calls "agri-energy," Pierce is promoting systems that allow agriculture and renewable energy to coexist on the same land, strengthening rural economies while cutting pollution.
Pierce explained her efforts in an interview with Adirondack Explorer about her book "Agri-Energy: Growing Power, Growing Food."
Agri-energy is a term Pierce uses to describe any system that combines farming with renewable power generation, including agrivoltaics, solar grazing, and even agriculture around wind energy.
Her goal is to move beyond the idea that farmland must be dedicated to a single purpose.
Instead, she argues that mixed-use land can help solve two challenges at once: keeping farms financially viable and accelerating the transition away from polluting fuels like oil, gas, and coal.
"We're already growing more food than we need," Pierce said. "We need to focus on how to make farming more profitable and food more accessible and affordable to consumers, and that's what agri-energy offers."
Pierce's work comes at a critical moment.
The average American farmer is nearing retirement age, land prices are soaring, and small farms are disappearing as agriculture becomes increasingly consolidated. At the same time, renewable energy developers face land constraints and community resistance.
Agri-energy offers a path forward for both industries by allowing local communities to produce food and power together.
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$200 or more 💰 On her own farm in upstate New York, Pierce began solar grazing in 2022 as a way to stay financially viable.
Grazing sheep on solar sites allowed her operation to expand without taking land from other farmers while also improving soil health, as illustrated by recent studies. The practice reduces mowing and maintenance costs for developers.
Since then, her farm has grown to multiple sites across several counties.
Beyond farmers, dual-use solar projects can help stabilize food prices, protect open land from permanent development, and make clean energy more affordable and locally controlled.
By generating income per acre, agri-energy can also make it easier for new, younger farmers to enter the field, preserving local food systems in the long term.
Unlike shopping centers or housing developments, renewable energy installations are reversible and typically include decommissioning plans that return the land to its original state, making them a potential tool for preserving farmland rather than losing it.
"Agri-energy is the future," Pierce told Adirondack Explorer. "I'm excited to be part of the transformation as more and more people lean into it."
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