Will Agrivoltaics Be a Small Step for Humans and Giant Leap for GAIA?

Agrivoltaics. An economic lifeline for American farmers? May 16, 2021 | 14:28

In our existential quests to survive, will agrivoltaics be a small step for humans and giant leap for GAIA? Just like the name suggests, it's a way of combining photovoltaic solar panels with agriculture.

As rich delta In many parts of the world where fertile land is scarce, agriculture and solar developers have fought over available space. What each party might have been missing all along is that it could be more profitable for both of them if they work together instead.

In the past, sharecropping had benefits and costs for both owners and tenants. Landowners would encourage croppers (akin to migrant workers) to remain on the land, solving the harvest rush problem.

Landowners would allow a cropper tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Owners and croppers would both share the risks and benefits of harvests being large or small and of prices being high or low. However, by dividing the working force into many individual workers, large farms do not benefit from economies of scale.

On the whole, sharecropping has been shown to be more economically productive than slave plantations and less efficient than modern agricultural techniques.

To say the least working arrangements, technology, and forms of ownership have changed drastically. All sorts of agricultural systems are now being developed and promoted all over the world to try a make the whole thing more sustainable and equitable.

Severe climate change and human responses indicate imminent ecological and social collapse. Without a sustainable ecosystem that favours human life, the longer we wait, the fewer choices we get to survive. For example, ecological indicators include severe weather, global warming, sea level rise, massive losses of essential natural resources like bees, and effects of pollution.

Indicators of social collapse include political uncertainty, civil unrest, monetary stress, supply chain disruption and deadly ecological events like the Texas snow storm and COVID-19. Tech fixes alone do not guarantee recovery from imminent collapse.

Top down centralized government and corporate management systems are showing signs of stalling or collapse. Fortunately, tech innovation, cost efficiencies and global communication appears to be positioned to build bottom up relief for persons displaced from urban life with alternative solutions to live long and prosper.

Key Takeaways:

Agrophotovoltaics, or Agrivoltaics, or just APV for short is developed and promoted to enhance sustainable food and energy production that also generates 2 revenue streams from the same land footprint.
AVP works as a solar panel energy collecter and as a roof to shade plants which in turn helps to manage plant health and produce better yields for maximum benefits to all concerned.
Agrivoltaics is very GAIA friendly because it demonstrates the kind of synergy Habitat for Health strives to communicate and sponsor.