To feed a growing population, farmers look to the sun

These are examples of agrivoltaics—a new sustainable solution that is gaining ground. Pilot projects are popping up across Europe to shed light on how harvesting sunshine on farms could benefit agriculture, especially small-scale farmers looking for ways to boost yields while using less energy and water.

According to the United Nations, the water-food-energy nexus is key to our sustainable societal development. Demand for all three is increasing, driven by a rising global population, rapid urbanization, changing diets and economic growth. The U.N. data also reveals that the largest consumer of the world's freshwater resources is now agriculture, and more than one-quarter of the energy used globally is expended on food production and supply.

The world will be home to an astonishing 10 billion people in the next 30 years. That represents a lot of mouths to feed—far too many for today's farms to satisfy. In fact, feeding this future population will require that we somehow produce twice as much food as we do today—a proposition that is rife with challenges.

First, there's the challenge of where to grow more crops. Out of the 13 billion hectares of land on this planet, only 38 percent is available for farming. Increasing that area would likely mean turning forests—including rainforests—into cropland, resulting in a major loss of biodiversity. And because trees play an essential role in fighting climate change, such deforestation would also lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

On top of deforestation there's also the challenge of pollution, with agriculture being responsible for at least 10 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. These largely result from methane produced by livestock, the sector's use of nitrogen-based fertilizers (which cause nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide), and fossil fuel dependent farm machinery and transport.

Agrivoltaics could be the answer

Despite the EU's target to produce 30 percent of its energy from renewables by 2030, nearly every stage of food production currently relies on gas and oil. That being the case, any increase in food production would most certainly mean an increase in fossil fuel use and, as a result, greenhouse gas emissions.

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Source: TechXplore