Farming is a calling. It’s also one of the riskiest businesses in America. Commodity prices collapse. Droughts happen. Floods happen. A farmer can do everything right and still have a brutal year. Solar land leases change that equation. The income generated by a solar project doesn’t care about the weather. It doesn’t fluctuate with commodity markets. It shows up — reliably, predictably — year after year, for the life of the project.
Missouri landowners with solar leases are already seeing $16–22 million annually in combined lease payments. That money keeps land in families. It funds the next generation’s ability to stay in agriculture rather than sell off to survive a bad stretch.
And here’s what often gets overlooked: when a solar project ends, the land comes back. The panels come down. The land is restored. The family still owns it. The heirs still inherit it. Agricultural land goes back to agriculture. Solar isn’t a trade-off between farming and energy. It’s a bridge — stable income today, farmland preserved for tomorrow. Missouri lawmakers should think carefully before taking that option off the table for the families who own that land.
APA appreciates the Missouri Times publishing our latest opinion piece on the opportunity solar presents for farming families and the need to preserve their private property rights. Click below to read more.