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    Year of the Woman Farmer

    Community

    Sneak peek into our panel conversation at San Francisco Climate Week

    In California, more than half of farms (63% to be precise) include at least one woman as part of the ownership, and there’s been a 13% uptick in the number of female farmers across the state over the past decade, as tracked by the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA). We’re celebrating this! 



    As part of San Francisco Climate Week, we’re convening a group of agricultural leaders helping shape the future of California agriculture. You can learn more about our event and register to attend here. As additional context for the conversation, we’re pleased to introduce the panelists:


    Allison Jordan, Executive Director of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance (CSWA)

    Since 2003, shortly after publication of the California Code of Sustainable Winegrowing, Allison has led CSWA and served as Vice President, Environmental Affairs for Wine Institute, the premiere public policy advocacy association of California wineries. She brings a long track record of impact in the industry, previously holding roles with SureHarvest and the Resource Renewal Institute.


    Dr. Evelyn Young Spath, Founder and Executive Director of the Kern County Black Farmers Association

    Evelyn leads this movement to reframe, rename, and reclaim Black farming as a sacred heritage and a dignified pathway to prosperity. Known as “The Agrivangelist,” she believes small hinges swing big doors. Through her own Amor Backyard Farm in Bakersfield, she demonstrates that small-plot farming is essential infrastructure for growing local food systems and building food-secure communities. She partners with the City of Bakersfield to transform blighted lots into bountiful community gardens and brings fresh food access to underserved communities through a local farmers’ market. She advocates for small and mid-sized producers through CAFF and serves as Kern County’s Minority Advisor for the USDA FSA County Committee.


    Jenny Lester Moffitt, Vice President of Farmland Protection and Strategic Priorities at American Farmland Trust

    Jenny brings decades of experience in agricultural policy, conservation, and food systems transformation. From 2021-2025, Jenny served as Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, becoming the first woman to hold this position. At USDA, she championed efforts to create market opportunities for U.S. producers and safeguard agricultural and natural resources. She previously served as Undersecretary at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, leading the state’s climate-smart agriculture initiatives. A fifth-generation California farmer, Jenny is deeply committed to caring for the land and the people who farm it.


    Kat Taylor, President of TomKat Foundation

    Kat is dedicated to building a fairer, more sustainable food system. In 2008, she and her husband, Tom Steyer, founded TomKat Ranch, a 1,800-acre cattle ranch in the San Francisco Bay Area. Kat also serves as President of TomKat Foundation, and champions environmental sustainability and serves on boards supporting regenerative farming and healthier communities. As Co-Founder and Board Chair of Beneficial State Bank, a certified B Corporation, Kat leads community development finance efforts. She also co-sponsored California's School Meals for All initiative, uniting over 200 organizations to address food insecurity and advance access to fresh, California-grown meals for schoolchildren.


    Virginia Jameson, Deputy Secretary of Climate and Working Lands at the California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA)

    In her role, Virginia is responsible for developing, managing, and implementing CDFA’s contribution to California’s strategy to address climate change. She’s played a leading role in engaging stakeholders across the state in creating and finalizing the Climate Resilience Strategy for California Agriculture (RSA), which will be published Spring 2026. Prior to her appointment by Governor Gavin Newsom, Virginia served as the Climate and Conservation Program Manager at the California Department of Conservation.


    The conversation will be moderated by HARVEST California Executive Director Kathryn Beros, founder of KAP Industry, an agrivoltaics solution provider focused on water conservation and community building. 


    What can you expect?

    A lively conversation centered on practical solutions to some of the most vexing challenges facing today’s farmers and agricultural leaders. The discussion will draw actionable takeaways from the 2026 Climate Resilience Strategy for California Agriculture, addressing multiple dimensions of opportunity across regions and operations as well as intersections with local communities, energy systems, and emerging financial opportunities. Panelists will share their hard-won lessons learned as well as the successes that are charting the course to a bright future for agriculture generally and women farmers specifically - in California and beyond.


    Have a question you’d like to hear our panelists address? Share it with us.


  • Published on

    Agrivoltaics in Action

    Demonstration

    Inside the UC Davis Agrivoltaics Demonstration Site

    By Benjamin Narwold, contributing author



    University of California Davis Agrivoltaics Demonstration Site At-A-Glance

    • Size: 9 Acres
    • Scale: 448 modules totaling 200.44 kW
    • Configuration: Three test systems: 1) Vertical Bifacial, 2) Single-Axis Tracking (two different types), 3) Transparent, Fixed-Tilt
    • Interconnected: Yes - interconnection is confirmed for April 3, 2026
    • Electricity use: Behind-the-meter
    • Open for public visits: For special events, by invitation


    At the University of California, Davis, researchers are exploring a fascinating idea: what if farmland could provide multiple outputs, producing both food and renewable energy? Research at the UC Davis agrivoltaics demonstration site, led by Professor Majdi Abou Najm from the Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, is turning that question into real-world experimentation. Agrivoltaics, which integrates agriculture and solar by maintaining productive farmland below or between panels, is a promising approach in California, where land is limited, water is scarce, and the demand for renewable energy is growing.


    The 9-acre demonstration site integrates solar panels with crops including peppers, tomatoes, and basil, enabling researchers to study how light, temperature, and water availability vary across different solar configurations. For example, one research focus is photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), the portion of sunlight plants use for photosynthesis. Solar panels create partial shading, redistributing light across the crops and altering the total PAR each plant receives over a day, referred to as the daily light integral (DLI), which impacts both crop quality and quantity. (Check out our post on these and other common agrivoltaics terms here.) 


    Photography: Jael Mackendorf, UC Davis.


    Exploring Agrivoltaics System Designs

    The UC Davis site features four agrivoltaics systems with three distinct solar photovoltaic (PV) designs, each offering unique insights into crop compatibility and energy generation:


    • Vertical Bifacial: With panels mounted vertically to capture sunlight from the east and west, this system produces energy primarily in the morning and late afternoon, when electricity demand is highest. Its design offers easy access for farm equipment operating between the rows, providing a minimal-intervention option for farmers.


    Photography: Maximilian Dedden


    • Single-Axis Tracking: Two trackers that follow the sun throughout the day to maximize energy production are installed side by side, providing UC Davis researchers an opportunity to directly compare crop growth impacts of different technologies. One tracker uses a continuous torque-tube row designed for more uniform terrain (as shown below), while the other uses an articulating, terrain-following structure that can create different shading patterns. For a deep dive into the how and why behind different approaches to solar trackers in general, check out this video.

    Photography: Maximilian Dedden


    • Transparent, Fixed-Tilt Panels: These semi-transparent solar panels let sunlight pass through while generating electricity, and their spectrally selective coatings enable testing of how different wavelengths affect crop growth, water-use efficiency, and overall land productivity. An important consideration when selecting solar modules is UL listing, meaning they’ve been successfully tested against current harmonized international safety standards and therefore qualify for interconnection. The modules used at the Davis site, shown below, are UL1703 rated, have been approved for and used in interconnected projects for a few years now. 

    Photography: Maximilian Dedden


    Each of these systems creates its own microclimate, or localized growing conditions beneath the panels. By changing the light reaching the ground and airflow through a field, solar panels can influence temperature, humidity, and soil moisture. These changes also affect water loss through evaporation from soil and transpiration from plants, together known as evapotranspiration (ET). Partial shading from the panels can insulate crops against heat stress and substantially reduce irrigation requirements. 


    Building on Earlier Research

    This current work builds on earlier research conducted by Dr. Abou Najm and his team in 2022. That research, which produced findings published in Energy Nexus in March 2026, focused on understanding feasibility and potential of spectral-selective agrivoltaics systems. The research conducted over one May-to-September growing season looked at the impact of two spectrally selective shading scenarios on tomatoes - as compared to those grown in a full-sun control plot. The findings point to the importance of understanding trade-offs and contextualizing information for landowners and farmers considering agrivoltaics. While the experimental shaded plots saw a 33-42% decrease in crop yield as compared to the full-sun control, the water-use efficiency in those plots increased 10-13%. 


    This increase in water-use efficiency means that researchers were able to produce more crop mass (kg of tomato) with the same volume of irrigation (mm of water) when under the spectrally-selective shade structures versus in full sun. As the professor shared in a July 2025 episode of Clean Power Hour, it’s important to look at the complete picture of food, energy, and water when doing the math on agrivoltaics. Accounting for water spending savings and added energy revenues, crop yield reductions may be considered acceptable when agrivoltaics can provide an alternative to taking land out of production. 


    Paving the Way for a Sustainable Agriculture Future

    In addition to active scientific research, the UC Davis site serves as a hub for interdisciplinary learning and a see-it-to-believe-it example of what’s possible. Agrivoltaics combines agricultural science, solar energy engineering, and economics to inform real-world projects. Researchers in California and across the globe are experimenting with solar PV designs to optimize both crop yield and electricity generation while minimizing development and operational costs.


    Ultimately, the UC Davis agrivoltaics demonstration site is more than a research plot. It is helping create a blueprint for agrivoltaics and sustainable dual use of land in California. By integrating crops with carefully designed solar PV systems, the project demonstrates how farms across the state can implement agrivoltaics to achieve long-term economic and environmental benefits amid increasing market volatility and climate variability by harvesting the sun twice for both food and renewable energy production. For the latest insights from this research and to hear from others in the growing agrivoltaics movement, register to attend the 4th California Germany Agrivoltaics Conference happening at UC Davis in November. 


    Interested in staying up-to-date on the latest agrivoltaics information, insights, and events? Sign up for the monthly newsletter from HARVEST California.



    Contributing Author Benjamin Narwold holds a BS in Environmental Science and Management from UC Davis and is focused on advancing sustainable land use at the intersection of agriculture, renewable energy, and biodiversity conservation.


  • Published on

    Common Agrivoltaics Terms

    Foundations

    The agrivoltaics approach to pairing crop and solar production draws on topics from many different disciplines, including agriculture, solar energy, engineering, economics, and environmental science. As a result, discussions often include terms that may be unfamiliar.


    Here, we introduce five terms that appear frequently in agrivoltaics conversations related to light, climate, water, and land.


    Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR)


    Photosynthetically active radiation refers to the portion of sunlight that plants use for photosynthesis. It includes light wavelengths between 400 and 700 nanometers.


    In agrivoltaics, PAR matters because solar panels reduce and redistribute incoming sunlight. How much PAR reaches crops beneath or between panels helps explain differences in growth, stress, and productivity.


    Daily Light Integral (DLI)


    Daily light integral describes the total amount of PAR a plant receives over the course of a day.


    While PAR refers to the amount of light at a specific moment, DLI is cumulative light exposure over an entire day. Changes in shading patterns in agrivoltaics systems can increase or decrease DLI depending on system design, time of year, and location.


    Partial Shading


    Partial shading occurs when solar panels block a portion of incoming sunlight rather than fully shading the ground.


    In agrivoltaics systems, partial shading varies depending on panel height, spacing, orientation, and tracking behavior. It influences how much light reaches crops, how heat builds up near the ground, and how water moves through the system, making it a central concept in understanding agrivoltaics outcomes.


    Microclimate


    A microclimate refers to localized environmental conditions near the ground, including temperature, humidity, wind, and radiation.


    Solar panels can modify microclimates by providing shade, reducing surface heating, and altering airflow. These localized changes are often used to explain observed differences in crop performance and soil conditions under agrivoltaics systems.


    Evapotranspiration (ET)


    Evapotranspiration is the combined loss of water through evaporation from soil and transpiration from plants.


    In agrivoltaics systems, shading and microclimate modification can influence ET by lowering temperatures and wind exposure. Reported changes in ET and water use vary widely across studies and sites.


    Land Equivalent Ratio (LER)


    Land equivalent ratio (LER) is a simple concept: it compares how much land is needed to produce the same combined outputs when agriculture and solar are co-located versus when they are developed separately. An LER value greater than 1 indicates that a system co-locating two or more land uses is operating more efficiently than each land use individually. 


    Early modeling studies of agrivoltaic systems have reported LER values as high as 1.7, meaning it would require 70% more land to produce the same amount of food and solar if done separately (versus the co-located approach).


    These terms frequently appear in agrivoltaics research and project descriptions. Understanding this shared vocabulary makes it easier to interpret study findings, evaluate demonstration projects, and engage in informed discussions about agrivoltaics outcomes.


    Future posts will introduce additional terms, including those related to system design and economic feasibility. As always, if you have a specific question or topic you’d like us to address, let us know.


  • Published on

    Agrivoltaics: An Introduction

    Foundations

    “Agri(culture)” plus “(photo)voltaics”


    Agrivoltaics is an approach to integrating agriculture and solar energy production. Unlike conventional solar, where agricultural use is displaced, agrivoltaic systems are designed to maintain productive farmland below or between solar panels. Systems are designed to act symbiotically with the environment in order to harness multiple benefits that ultimately take care of the land while growing revenues. This dual-use approach is gaining attention as interest grows in using resources more efficiently to meet food, water, and energy security goals. 



    How are agrivoltaics used?


    You may run across many different terms when researching Agrivoltaics: agri-pv, ag-solar, solar grazing, eco-solar, conservation solar, farmer friendly solar, etc. We’ll do a deep-dive on those terms and the differences in a later post. 


    To keep things simple, there are three main ways to combine agriculture and solar:

    • Animals - Some agrivoltaic systems pair with livestock, such as sheep grazing beneath and between panels.
    • Pollinator - In other cases, solar arrays are paired with pollinator habitat that provides ecological services while maintaining land productivity.
    • Crops - At HARVEST California, we are especially interested in agrivoltaic systems that are designed to support crop production by spacing or elevating panels so that plants receive sufficient sunlight and farm equipment can operate normally.



    Why do agrivoltaics outcomes differ?


    An important agrivoltaics consideration is that outcomes are highly context dependent. Crop type, climate, soil conditions, light availability, and solar array design all influence how agriculture and energy interact on a given site. Panel height, row spacing, tilt, and tracking behavior may also affect how much sunlight reaches the plants. Design choices directly shape agricultural outcomes.


    Focusing on agrivoltaics systems that pair solar and crop production, multiple studies have documented positive effects, including long-running experiments at University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 Agrivoltaic Learning Lab, where researchers found cooler temperatures and improved soil moisture under panels compared to full-sun plots. In some cases, crop yield even increases with partial shade.


    Here in California, one of the most promising benefits of agrivoltaics is water savings, which can reach 30% under some conditions. In future blog posts, we’ll dive into this opportunity that is gaining urgency with the state’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) compliance requirements rapidly approaching. 


    New to agrivoltaics and have a specific question you’d like us to address? Reach out.


  • Published on

    The California Context for Agrivoltaics Impact

    Foundations

    While California remains one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, known as the “salad bowl” of the U.S., the amount of land actively used for agriculture has been decreasing since the 1980s. Without taking new conservation measures, California is projected to continue losing farmland at a rate of roughly 50,000 acres per year - equivalent to more than one and a half times the area of San Francisco annually - according to the California Climate and Agriculture Network.


    Understanding the pressures shaping today’s land-use decisions is essential for evaluating how new land uses can play a role in maintaining California’s position as the leading agricultural producer in the nation.


    Pressures shaping today’s land-use decisions


    While urban development remains a primary driver of land conversion, other pressures – including decreases in groundwater, increased climate variability, and economic uncertainties – further drive loss of California’s working lands.


    Water availability has become a central constraint on agricultural land use in California. Decades of drought and heavy reliance on groundwater have made reliable irrigation more uncertain, particularly in the Central Valley. Implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) is reshaping how groundwater can be used by requiring overdrafted basins to reduce pumping. In regions where agriculture relies heavily on groundwater, these limits can reduce available irrigation supplies, leading some land to be fallowed, shifted to lower-water-use crops, or removed from production altogether. Studies indicate that between 500,000 and 900,000 acres of agricultural land in the San Joaquin Valley may be taken out of production due to water scarcity in the coming years, as reported by American Farmland Trust.


    Climate variability and rising temperatures compound existing water challenges. Heat waves and longer dry periods are becoming more frequent, increasing irrigation demand and stress on crops. Some climate projections indicate considerable impacts on major California crops. For example, as reported by National Public Radio, yields for several fruit and nut crops such as grapes and almonds could decrease by 20-40% by 2050 due to increased daytime temperatures and reduced overnight chill hours. These shifts add uncertainty to production decisions and long-term planning, especially for these types of specialty crops that dominate much of California’s agricultural economy.


    Economic conditions also play a significant role in shaping agricultural land use. In California, average farm real estate values are among the highest in the nation, with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reporting cropland values above $17,000 per acre in major agricultural regions. High land costs increase financial pressure on farmers and can make it difficult for smaller operations to remain viable. Additionally, expenses such as labor and agricultural inputs have sometimes grown faster than revenues, squeezing profit margins for many producers. These pressures are reflected in industry trends: between 2017 and 2022, the number of farms in California declined by more than 10%, with the greatest losses among smaller operations farming less than 180 acres2.


    These pressures have increased interest in land-use approaches that seek to maintain agricultural activity while integrating additional activities that conserve water resources, mitigate climate change impacts, and diversify revenue streams.


    The agrivoltaics opportunity


    Within this context, agrivoltaics has emerged as an approach that integrates agricultural activity with solar energy production by maintaining productive farmland below and between solar panels. This dual-use strategy provides myriad benefits, including land-use efficiency, which we’ll explore in future posts. 


    As interest grows in agrivoltaics as an important contributor to land and natural resource conservation efforts in California, we at HARVEST California are committed to helping stakeholders across the state understand and evaluate the opportunity to pair crops and solar. To stay up-to-date on the rapid evolution of agrivoltaics in California, subscribe to our monthly newsletter. 



    Have an idea for a future topic you’d like to see us cover? Tell us about it.