Solar Panels Above Blueberry Fields: A Model Worth Studying for the Black Belt

In Massachusetts, a solar farm solved a problem farmers and energy developers often argue over: who gets the land. The answer they came up with was both. The panels were raised nine feet off the ground, high enough for blueberry bushes to grow underneath. Shade from the panels reduced heat stress on the fruit, cut irrigation demand, and kept the land in food production while generating clean electricity above. This is agrivoltaics, and it is exactly the kind of thinking rural Alabama needs.

The Ecoportal report on this installation shows that dual-use solar is not theoretical. Developers and farmers are working out the practical details in real fields: panel height, crop selection, land lease terms. When it works, the same acre produces food income and electricity income for the landowner, while the surrounding community gains access to local renewable energy.

In rural areas across the country, farmers face pressure to sell or lease their land entirely to solar developers, taking it out of food production. Agrivoltaics offers a different path. The land stays active. The farmer gains a new income stream. The community keeps its food base while gaining clean energy access. For areas where both farm viability and food access are long-standing challenges, that difference matters.

At Little USA, we believe the Black Belt deserves this model. Bullock County and the surrounding region carry a deep agricultural history alongside serious food access gaps today. Our work in Union Springs centers on one idea: solar and farming are not competing uses of the land. Food sovereignty and energy equity are not separate goals. We are building a place where they are the same project.

If you are a landowner, farmer, or community member in central Alabama curious about what this could look like for your land or your county, we want to connect. This work is early, and we are building it alongside the people it is meant to serve.