The Southeast Gets Its First Agrivoltaics Summit, and Farmer Passes Are Free

This week, the Southeast gets its first close look at what it means to run a solar farm and a real working farm on the same ground. The Georgia Solar Farm Summit opens July 15-16 in Athens, Georgia, at the University of Georgia campus. If you're a farmer or landowner, your expo pass costs nothing.

The two-day conference brings together developers, researchers, farmers, and policymakers to work through agrivoltaics from the ground up. Day one covers the basics: what a land-based solar project actually involves, how to evaluate siting decisions, and what the lifecycle of a solar installation looks like from construction through decommissioning. By day two, the summit moves into the science: what current research shows about dual-harvest systems, and what farmers are actually reporting from fields where solar and crops share the same land.

Solar Farm Summit, the organization behind the event, built it around a specific premise: "Solar, agriculture and conservation land uses are not in conflict." That's a deliberate pushback on a narrative that treats renewable energy development and farming as competing uses of land. In the agrivoltaics model, they aren't. A well-designed dual-use system can generate electricity, support soil health, maintain crop or livestock production, and keep a farming family on their land.

At Little USA, we've been building towards that same premise in Union Springs, Alabama. The Black Belt has some of the most productive soil in the country, a farming tradition that runs centuries deep, and communities that have been left behind by most of the clean energy economy. Agrivoltaics gives us a path that doesn't force a choice between food and power. Solar income can keep small farms viable. Green jobs can stay local. And land that's been worked for generations doesn't have to become an industrial energy site to be part of the transition.

A summit like this, in Athens, Georgia, a short drive from the Alabama Black Belt, matters to us. The case studies and research presented this week will shape how the technology expands across the South.

If you're a farmer or landowner in the region, you can register for the expo at no cost at https://georgiasolarfarmsummit.com/. We're tracking what comes out of this event and will share what's most relevant to the work we're doing in Union Springs.