Solar and sheep provide valuable farm diversification

Eric Steeves says elevating sheep on forages grown underneath 1000’s of acres of photo voltaic panels offered financial stability and even perhaps saved his household’s fifth-generation southern Alberta grain farm.

It definitely wasn’t an in a single day course of, and it concerned a steep studying curve, however Steeves says being concerned in Canada’s largest renewable vitality, solar energy era mission has been a sport changer not just for his household’s Yetwood Farms, however for a number of different household farms within the Lomond space, about an hour north of Lethbridge.

The system of grazing sheep (or actually any agricultural exercise) underneath arrays of photo voltaic panels is called agrivoltaics. For many that’s not a family time period. Agri after all pertains to agriculture and voltaic (pronounced vol-tay-ick) refers to some course of that generates electrical energy. You place them collectively and the time period refers producing an agricultural commodity underneath these photo voltaic fields. Agrivoltaics is a comparatively new idea to Canada, however has been used with solar energy producing initiatives in the US and different elements of the world for a few years.

The Steeves household have been simply common grain farmers, cropping about 6,000 largely dryland acres of grains and oilseeds after they have been approached in 2017 by Calgary primarily based Greengate Energy Company asking if they’d make land obtainable for a solar energy mission.

“I believed the primary telephone name was a joke,” says Steeves. “Some type of rip-off as they have been speaking about a big photo voltaic mission. There was a second name and I mentioned if that is reputable why don’t you come right here and have a gathering with the individuals to correctly clarify the mission.” In order that they did. Beginning in July 2017, the corporate met with a number of farm households in Lomond throughout quite a few conferences, which resulted in contracts being signed in October 2017.

That was the start of the Travers Photo voltaic Mission “a path blazer amongst solar energy initiatives in Canada,” says Steeves. The mission itself, at the moment the biggest photo voltaic mission in Canada, concerned set up of 1.3 million photo voltaic panels in arrays protecting about 3,400 acres of farmland. The Steeves household has about 9 quarters or 1,440 acres being leased to the mission, whereas a number of close by farm households leased one other 14 quarters or 2,240 acres to Greengate.

It took about two years for the corporate to acquire all crucial permits. Development began in 2020 and the mission was accomplished and producing energy by late 2022. The $700 million mission is designed to generate 465 megawatts of electrical energy which typically phrases is sufficient to energy greater than 150,000 houses.

So how did the Travers Photo voltaic Mission profit Yetwood Farms and the opposite producers who leased their land to the mission? Initially are the lease funds from the vitality firm. Relying on the mission, lease charges can vary from $700 to $1,200 per acre per 12 months. On high of that if the landowners are contracted to take care of vegetation management — maintain the grass and weeds minimize underneath the panels — that may be value one other $200 to $400 per acre per 12 months.

“After we regarded on the mission, right here we’re farming within the Palliser Triangle — the brown and darkish brown soil zone — and on common our internet return from crop manufacturing could be round $70 per acre,” says Steeves. “That’s a median. Some years higher and through a number of years of drought situations we may gather crop insurance coverage which was much less. Whereas on these acres leased to the photo voltaic mission an individual can probably earn from $900 to $1,600 per acre simply to have the mission there. We noticed getting concerned with the photo voltaic mission as a wonderful alternative to diversify the farm. With largely dryland crop manufacturing and years of drought, this mission has maybe saved our farming operation, together with different household farms within the space.”

However, don’t these photo voltaic initiatives take good farmland out of manufacturing? Under no circumstances. That’s have been agrivoltaics kick into gear. When these massive photo voltaic initiatives have been first launched in Alberta, for instance, the asset house owners needed the naked floor beneath the photo voltaic arrays coated with forages. However it was quickly realized that the actual threat to those photo voltaic panel arrays wasn’t hail, though that may be concern, however potential for grass fires that would wipe out the entire operation. Therefore the necessity for vegetation management.

There could possibly be mechanical means for eradicating the forages, however with spacing of 21 toes between photo voltaic arrays and solely about 4 toes of clearance underneath the panels when they’re within the desk high place, mowing and even perhaps baling the forage for elimination would require specialised gear.

For vegetation management in different photo voltaic initiatives all over the world, grazing livestock — particularly sheep — underneath and round these photo voltaic panels was a standard apply.

“My dad had raised pigs at one time and we did run some cows at totally different instances years in the past, however I had zero expertise with sheep,” says Steeves.

In preparation for the offering vegetation management for the photo voltaic mission underneath building, Steeves purchased 50 sheep in 2020. He needed to get some concept of what it was prefer to handle sheep.

“I quickly realized that sheep are so much totally different than cattle and for a mission this dimension I used to be going to want some professional assist with administration,” he says. Steeves did some analysis, situated an professional on sheep, a professor specializing in small ruminant livestock, who was managing a ranch elevating sheep and goats linked with the College of Mexico, in Mexico Metropolis. He was serious about engaged on the Yetwood Farms mission. In late 2023 he moved to Alberta and has been managing the flock.

At this time, Yetwood Farms, which is managing the sheep and vegetation management for the whole Travers Photo voltaic Mission, is operating 2,000 head of breeding females. The plan is to extend that to three,500 ewes over the following 12 months and inside 5 years develop the flock to about 8,000 head. They’ve constructed lambing services in addition to feedlot for ending lambs. The plan is to handle the flock so it’s producing lambs on a year-round foundation. Lambs are completed to a median of 130 kilos and marketed by way of the Westpine Meats processing plant at Innsifail in south central Alberta.

Steeves says when the flock is absolutely stocked, it has potential to supply about 13,600 lambs per 12 months, with a complete carcass weight of about 850,000 kilos of meat. If the value averages about $5 per pound that meat has a complete worth of $4.25 million. Together with land lease charges to farmers, agrivoltaics offers additional return to producers by way of sale of agricultural commodities similar to lamb.

Apparently, the wool from the sheep has no worth as a fibre. As sheep are shorn yearly all wool, which is excessive in nitrogen, is combined with manure and composted, with the compost utilized to the Yetwood Farms annual crop acres. The farm hires contract shearers to shear the flock. Shearers are paid about $6 per head. A shearer with correct method can shear as much as 30 sheep per hour.

Whereas sheep is a quite common commodity for agrivoltaics, he says there are numerous choices. There are a selection of analysis initiatives throughout Canada, together with Olds Faculty, trying on the potential to supply poultry, hogs, beef cattle, hay and even annual crops underneath correctly designed photo voltaic initiatives.

The sheep flock at Yetwood Farms is managed in an intensive rotational grazing system. The bottom beneath the photo voltaic panels has been seeded to a forage mix. Proper now the flock is split, with 1,000 head of sheep grazing on about 60 acres and moved weekly. As numbers improve there will probably be a number of flocks shifting by way of the sphere of photo voltaic panels. With rotational, mob grazing, they can run two to 2 and a half sheep per acre for the grazing season. With extra in depth grazing administration within the early days, carrying capability was within the 0.8 to at least one sheep per acre vary.

Steeves says the farm did spend money on a low-profile Avant 860i loader which may journey between the arrays. It may be outfitted with a boomless sprayer to use herbicide. For seeding additionally they have a small customized constructed air seeder that works between the photo voltaic arrays.

“If we’ve naked floor the air seeder might be one of the best ways to get grass established,” says Steeves. “However in areas have been we need to renew or add forage species we discovered one of the best strategy is to rent a drone applicator, apply the seed by air, then flip the sheep on to that space to graze. The hoof motion of the sheep works the seed into the soil.”

Shade from the photo voltaic panels offers the sheep shelter from the solar and likewise creates a micro-climatic zone underneath the arrays, that fits forage manufacturing.

As they tried to ascertain forages throughout dry years in some areas the kochia took over earlier than the grass. Some areas of the pasture areas have been at one time 85 per cent kochia and 15 per cent grass. However by way of grazing administration and seeding the place crucial these percentages have been reversed. “We do have a pair areas of foxtail that we are going to deal with with herbicide, however for probably the most half forage manufacturing is trending in the fitting path,” he says.

Steeves says the agrivoltaics mission has been an intense studying expertise. “After we began 9 years in the past, it actually was the wild, wild west,” he says. “There have been no pointers, or rules. We needed to study this technique from scratch and we’re nonetheless studying. There have been quite a few ache factors as we went alongside, however the truth is that the advantages far outweigh any ache we skilled. It’s a diversification alternative that would profit many farms.”

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