As solar capacity grows, some of America's most productive farmland is at risk

Dave Duttlinger's first thought when he saw a dense band of yellowish-brown dust smearing the sky above his Indiana farm was: I warned them this would happen. About 445 acres of his fields near Wheatfield, Indiana, are covered in solar panels and related machinery – land that in April 2019 Duttlinger leased to Dunns Bridge Solar LLC, for one of the largest solar developments in the Midwest. On that blustery spring afternoon in 2022, Duttlinger said, his phone rang with questions from frustrated neighbors: Why is dust from your farm inside my truck?

Related Keywords

Delaware , United States , Jasper County , Indiana , Chicago , Illinois , Iowa , Rhode Island , Columbia County , Wisconsin , American , America , Paul Pittman , Caroline Stauffer , Nick Cohen , Christopher Walljasper , Claudia Parsons , Jerry Hatfield , Wood Mackenzie , Dave Duttlinger , United States Geological , Agricultural Research Service National Laboratory For Agriculture , Orion Renewable Energy Group , Doral Renewables , Department Of Energy , Energy Department Solar Futures Study , Justice Department , Reuters , Researchers At American Farmland , Farmland Partners Inc , Biden Administration , Solar Energy Industries Association , Us Department Of Agriculture , Us Environmental Protection Agency , Nextera Energy Resources , Dunns Bridge Solar , Dunns Bridge , Partners Inc , Executive Chairman Paul , Protection Agency , United States Geological Survey , Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Research Service , National Laboratory , Energy Department , Solar Futures Study , American Farmland Trust , Smart Solar , Mammoth Solar , Norm Welker , Pulaski Counties , Solar Panels , Solar Energy , Solar Project , Renewable Energy , Solar Projects , Uttlinger , Solar Farm ,