Scientists Find Local Approach Needed to Understand Attitudes and Policies Around Solar Energy on Farms
Image Credit: AgriSolar Clearninghouse
A new study from the University of Maryland provides the first clear picture of attitudes and barriers to agrivoltaics—the dual use of land for farming and solar energy—in Montgomery County, Maryland. The results reveal how local environmental, political, and social factors influence acceptance and adoption of solar energy in the region’s agricultural sector.
The study, which was published in the journal Energy Policy on January 13, 2026, is significant because it provides evidence for regionally influenced social differences and creates a benchmark for future research to improve solar adoption in other locales across the country.
“At this time, there are very few local or regional agrivoltaics social science studies for U.S. decisionmakers to draw from,” said Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology at UMD and co-author of the study. “Most studies focus broadly on the U.S. as a whole, but our study describes the knowledge, attitudes, and practices that shape agrivoltaics in the Mid-Atlantic, and establishes how agrivoltaics is interpreted in the region.”
Agrivoltaics has great potential to address food, energy, and land-use challenges, but confusion about what qualifies as agrivoltaics and inconsistent policies can slow adoption and create resistance. In Montgomery County, the study found adoption could be increased with policies that expand grid access, shorten permitting timelines, ease siting restrictions, and ensure clear decommissioning plans to protect landowners. The researchers also emphasize the need to frame agrivoltaics as a tool for farmland preservation, particularly in rapidly developing Mid-Atlantic regions.
When compared to previous studies, stakeholder concerns and opinions were more similar to those expressed by stakeholders in Pennsylvania where climate, farm practices, policies, and stakeholder needs were similar, than in desert locations where those factors varied significantly. The comparison verified the researchers’ emphasis on regional influences on attitudes and agrivoltaic practices
The researchers focused their study on Montgomery County in part because it is a densely populated area faced with conflicting priorities between solar power development and farmland preservation.
To conduct the study, Pavao-Zuckerman and his former post-doctoral researcher, Jennifer Morash (who is now Chief Agrivoltaics Officer for Good Idea Solar), developed a web-based visual survey asking stakeholders their opinions about various types of photovoltaic activities. They then held focus group interviews in August and September of 2024. Stakeholders in the survey and focus groups included Montgomery County farmers, landowners, advocacy groups, non-profits, County government officials, and individuals who work with the solar sector.
Their results revealed much confusion among stakeholders about what qualifies as agrivoltaics. Photos of animals grazing, crops growing, or beehives situated near and around solar panels elicited disagreement about whether a site included an agrivoltaic system or not, and respondents’ attitudes toward the practice varied depending upon the season depicted, and even the presence of familiar farm features, such as farmers with tractors in the background. Neither beekeeping operations involving pollinator fields nor rooftop solar in agricultural settings, such as storage facilities, were considered agrivoltaics.
Despite disagreements, 68% of participants in the survey reported having a positive view of agrivoltaics. However, all categories of stakeholders had the view that agrivoltaics is an unproven practice in Maryland and the mid-Atlantic and saw a need for demonstrations and research to support decisions to adopt the practice. Overall, many were unconvinced that agrivoltaics could be integrated with commodity crops such as corn and wheat. There was a stronger agreement that livestock could be integrated with photovoltaics, but concern that the use of sheep to graze solar fields could be used as a form of greenwashing.
In addition to highlighting the need for regional and local assessments of agrivoltaics, the survey and focus group responses provided insights that can help Montgomery County develop clearer definitions, better policy, and more informed public education to advance broader acceptance of agrivoltaic systems.
Pavao-Zuckerman said the next steps will be to build agrivoltaic demonstration sites at two University of Maryland Research and Education Centers to better understand and demonstrate the impacts of these systems.
